T. Helen Otow

Born on March 20, 1916, Helen (Toyoru) Otow passed away peacefully on August 1, 2022. Except for a few brief periods around college and during World War II, Helen lived on her family’s farm in Loomis (now Granite Bay) from her very birth until her death. She was 106 years old.

As a child, Helen attended the original, one room, Excelsior Grammar School on Eureka Road for five years. She and her classmates then transferred to Eureka Union Elementary, a newly built school with four classrooms for grades one through eight. After finishing elementary school, she was able to find transportation from the farm in Loomis to Folsom, allowing her to attend Folsom High School. She then went on to Sacramento City College to study nursing. While attending City College, she worked as a school girl, getting room and board in return for cleaning and watching the children of a Sacramento family. After graduating from City College in May of 1938, she went to work for the Department of Motor Vehicles in Sacramento.

When her father passed away a year later, in 1939, she returned to Loomis to help her mother manage the farm. A few years after that, in 1941, she married Seiichi Otow from Livingston, CA. Together they grew a variety of tree fruit; mainly peaches, plums, and persimmons; which they sold to produce houses in Sacramento, Loomis, and Oakland.

When World War II started, President Roosevelt ordered people of Japanese descent to be relocated from the West Coast. This took Helen and Seiichi from the farm In Loomis to the internment camp at Tule Lake and, later in the War, to Chicago where they worked for the American Television Company

In 1945, with the War over, Helen and Seiichi headed back to the farm by car. The highlight of the trip home was a chance to see Yellowstone National Park. Helen’s most memorable part was driving down a back road, a short cut Seiichi wanted to try during a rainstorm at night. When they arrived home, they found the farm intact but in need of intensive care before it could be returned to production. Helen and Seiichi would work the farm together for over 50 years.

Living on a farm gave Helen many skills: sorting and packing fruit, pruning trees, thinning fruit, cutting wood, caring for horses and mules, plucking chickens, growing vegetables, irrigating trees, paying bills, and doing payroll. Throughout Placer County, Japanese immigrants dried persimmons with a technique known as hoshigaki. They did this for friends and family members. In the 60s and 70s , hoshigaki could be found in some Japanese grocery stores. In the 70’s, Helen was approached by a Hawaiian importer trying to purchase hoshigaki for his markets in Hawaii. Helen recruited several producers and together they were able to make enough hoshigaki to export to Hawaii. In 2003. Placer Grown Association named her Farmer of the Year.

Although the farm demanded much of her time, she still found time for enjoyment. She sewed most of her own clothes and those of her daughters. She enjoyed reading, playing cards and tending to her landscape and vegetable gardens. She liked to cook and bake. The family remembers the many Japanese dishes that she cooked for family gatherings.

Helen was an active member of numerous groups. When her children joined 4-H, she served as a leader for the sewing project. She was a member of the Japanese American Citizen League, Loomis Fruit Growers Association, and Placer Farm Bureau. As a member of the Loomis Methodist Church, she was involved with the women’s group there. This group helped plan the church’s annual food Bazaar and cooked the special Japanese dishes that were served there.

Sometimes work on the farm was unpleasant but as long as it had purpose, Helen wanted to do it. Even as her dementia curtailed many of her thoughts and activities during the last year of her life, she continued to want to do farm work. She watered plants, cleaned bunches of grapes, and put away produce in the fruit stand at the end of each day.

Helen is predeceased by her parents Kichitaro and Momi Kawano, her sisters Harriet Hayashi and Grace Ouye, and her husband Seiichi Otow. She is survived by daughters June Otow (husband Howard Fogg) of Goldendale, WA, Christine Kuratomi (husband Toshiharu) of Roseville, CA, son Wesley Otow (wife May), grandchildren, Toshio Kuratomi, Maya Kuratomi, Michie Burbano, Jason Otow, Melissa Otow, and eight great-grandchildren.

The family especially wishes to thank her caregivers, Mary and Nissy, for the undivided attention they gave her these last few months. They kept her laughing, smiling, fed, and comfortable during this time. They greatly blessed Helen and her family.

For most of us, Helen has always been here. She will be greatly missed by friends and extended family. In lieu of flowers, please donate to one of Helen’s charities: The First United Methodist Church in Loomis, Loaves and Fishes in Sacramento, the Asian Community Center in Sacramento, or the Placer Food Bank in Roseville.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.LambertFuneral.com for the Otow family.