Kikue (Peggy) Yakabi Hurst passed away Easter Sunday, April 21, 2019. She was born in Naha, Okinawa November 25, 1932. She survived WWII as a young teenager by being moved to the main islands of Japan. Not long after the movement to the mainland, Okinawa was nearly destroyed. After the war, she returned to Okinawa and eventually landed a job with the U.S. Army in Naha. There she met her future husband, Harvey Hurst. They had together one son.
Upon arrival to the United States, they took a bus from San Francisco to Clearwater, Florida. Her step-father and step-mother lived in Largo and she and her son lived with them as Harvey was reassigned to Germany unaccompanied. Kikue worked hard to fully learn and understand English and in 1955, on her birthday, she received her citizenship. When her husband arrived back in Largo, they purchased a home in Largo.
She worked at the Clearwater Laundry for many years and then at the Clearwater Cigar Factory as a line supervisor. In the mid to late 1960’s the Lion’s Club of Largo wanted to develop a sister city in Japan. Kikue was the official interpreter between Largo and the city of Tosayamada, Japan, which she thoroughly enjoyed. She made a few trips to the sister city with representatives of the Largo Lion’s Club.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Harvey Hurst. She is survived by her only child, Bobby; three grand-children: Mieko Hurst, Shannon Hurst, Jay Hurst, and one great grandchild, Jordan Barker.
