Teruo (Terry) Sakaki

It is with profound sadness and heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Teruo (Terry) Sakaki on May 2, 2025, at the age of 94 years. He passed peacefully with family by his side.

Terry was a loving and devoted husband for 68 years to the love of his life, Sets; adored father to son Alan and daughter Susan (Len); cherished grandfather to grandsons Breyden and Troy; and supportive father-in-law to Len.

Terry is survived by brothers Norio (Marie), Ed, and Roy Sakaki, several sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law, cousins and many nephews and nieces. Predeceased by parents Tetsuo and Sakae, brother Frank, sister Seiko (infant), sisters Hayako Tasaka, Leiko Koide, and Hiroko Hughes. He was affectionately remembered by family and friends as a kind and gentle man, radiating a great smile with a sense of humour.

Terry was born in 1930 in Vancouver BC, the eldest of a large family of nine siblings. His father Tetsuo was born in Fukuoka Japan and his mother Sakae Hirano from Kumamoto Japan. Terry’s father immigrated to Canada in 1921 at the age of 16 to be sponsored by a strawberry farmer in Haney BC, followed by working in logging and shingle mills before establishing his own service station business in Vancouver in 1927. His parents married in New Westminster BC and soon after, their first child, Teruo, was born in Vancouver. Terry had a double education; both at the Meiwa Gakuen Japanese School starting grade one in 1936, as well as attending Hastings Elementary School in Vancouver the same year. He still kept his elementary school report cards from Hastings Elementary to this day, which revealed he was not only a high achiever in all academic areas, but showed good social habits of being courteous, conscientious and respectful in school relationships. These fine traits would come into play in his career decades later. Terry was particularly happy making friendships at Hastings Elementary which was dominated by hakujin (Caucasian) students. He enjoyed going together with these students to the movies for five cents, playing on the same sports teams, participating in music choirs and often visited each others’ homes. When the war broke out after the Pearl Harbor bombing in 1941, he and his family were forced to evacuate with little notice; choosing what to take and what to leave behind. In his memoir, Terry wrote how difficult it was to end his close friendships, particularly with his best friend Owen Roberts. The Sakaki family was relocated to East Lillooet, a self-supporting center with poor living conditions such as having no heat or running water, and cramped living space in extremely hot summers and frigid winters. Little did Terry know that fate would have it that his future wife Setsuko Aura and her family were living in close quarters to his family in the East Lillooet camps. After the evacuation was over with little educational opportunities for Terry and work for his father, the family was forced to move to Revelstoke in 1944 where Terry completed his high school education and graduated in 1948.

Terry’s dream to go to university and become a dentist was not meant to be as there were limited funds to higher education after the evacuation. Instead, he got a job with the Canadian Pacific Railway and one day travelled with his father to Kamloops when he saw a sign for a “fully equipped garage business for sale.” With that purchase and the subsequent move to Kamloops, they started their Esso service station in 1949, which became known as North Kamloops Motors. With the addition of his younger brothers joining in sales, service and accounting, it flourished and in 1969 the family business was featured in a Canadian Automotive Trade magazine as the biggest independent service station in Canada. It was a family run business and Terry expanded it to include a Toyota franchise grand opening in 1973 which became an iconic landmark building in Kamloops for its Japanese pagoda architecture and Japanese garden that his father landscaped beautifully. Further expansion was the grand opening of Kamloops Datsun Ltd. (later renamed Kamloops Nissan) in 1977. He retired and sold the business in 1997 with his brother Frank, the year when Terry’s first grandson, Breyden was born. His positive mindset got him through cancer twice after retirement and other health issues in later years.

Terry’s parents were devout Buddhists and Terry maintained a strong connection to his faith throughout his life. The Japanese community in Kamloops stood strongly connected, and within a few years of moving to Kamloops, Teruo and Setsuko had begun their courtship, leading to their engagement. They were married in 1956, the first ever couple to be wed in the Kamloops Buddhist Temple. They enjoyed many of the same interests and values together such as bowling, travelling abroad and their shared Buddhist faith.

Although Terry had a lucrative career in the automotive business, his legacy he leaves behind is his humbleness and living a life with humility. Terry will be remembered for his inspiring motivation to work hard and “Gambatte” (do your best) attitude, his strong connection to his faith, his kindness and generosity to others, his positive mindset through difficult times, to always seek knowledge, and to hold no grudges in life. Above all, it was always his love and care for his wife and family, that mattered to him most. He will be missed but never forgotten.

Wake will be on Wednesday, May 21st 2025 at 6:30pm at Schoening Funeral Service located at 513 Seymour Street Kamloops BC.

Funeral Service on Thursday, May 22nd, 2025, 10am at the Kamloops Buddhist Temple, 361 Poplar Street Kamloops BC.