Kiyoko "Kay" Dobashi

Kiyoko Dobashi was born in 1923 on Millikan Corner in San Jose, CA. She was known by her family and friends as Kay.

Her mother Miye and her father, Frank Torazo Ogata, had eight girls, and Kay was the third of eight. Her mother and father lived on a ranch and grew strawberries and walnuts which is now Starbird Park on the corner of Williams Road and San Tomas Expressway in San Jose. Kay grew up there with her seven sisters. Many of the girls including Kay learned how to drive a tractor to help out at the ranch.

Kay only visited Japan once with her mother when she was eleven and traveled there by ship. She was able to visit her grandmother and see the family home where her grandmother lived. One of her sisters, Tomiko also went to Japan with her, and while there, they learned kendo. The house was in the town of Kosamachi, in Nitago, Kamimashiki-Gun, Kumamoto.

Besides learning kendo, she played the violin. She used to say, “Violin was easy.”

When World War II broke out, the family went from San Jose, CA to be with her uncle’s family in Merced Assembly Center. She graduated from Moreland School and attended Campbell High School and graduated from Livingston High School in Livingston, CA. The family was evacuated to the Internment Camp in Amachi, Colorado in September 1942.

Kay was able to leave the Internment Camp early to go to work with two of her sisters to Cleveland, Ohio and Detroit, Michigan in 1943. She brought her typewriter with her and worked in hospitals. When the war was coming to an end, she returned to the Internment Camp in Amachi, Colorado in 1945 to join the rest of the family so they could return to San Jose, CA together.

In 1947, she and Henry Dobashi got married in San Jose, CA. She worked at the family grocery business, Dobashi Market with Henry. Kay and Henry enjoyed their days off from the store together. They used to visit friends in San Jose, San Francisco, and Oakland who all had the same hobbies as they did. They enjoyed shopping and would travel to Los Angeles and Hawaii to see their friends. They enjoyed eating out on their days off.

They both loved the San Francisco Giants and would enjoy going to baseball games to see them play. Looking forward to their games on TV, Kay would always keep a chart that included the starting line-up, each pitcher that went out onto the mound, and kept score of each game inning by inning.

She had hobbies throughout her life as knitting, crocheting, sewing, embroidery, and over 50 Bunka embroidery which she framed and hung in their home. She made patterns and sewed and knitted many dresses. She had a green thumb and had a knack for growing orchids and African violets with lots of blooms. She would support Henry’s hobbies of raising koi fish and roller canaries for competition. She was a great cook and would make the typical traditional Japanese food on New Year’s Day every year as she knew Henry loved it and all the company that would visit them.

After Henry’s death in 1993, she lived alone in the family home. She joined a gym and would meet and see friends there. She also joined the Campbell United Methodist Church where she made friends and would go hiking with friends from the church once a month to Big Sur, Muir Woods, Edgewood Park & Natural Preserve, Ano Nuevo State Park, and other hikes around the Bay Area.

Kay took guitar lessons and played both acoustic and electric guitars.

She worked at Dobashi Market until it closed in 2005. She was 82 when she retired.

Listening to country music became her favorite past time. Every week, she watched the Top 20 Countdown and would never miss the Country Music Awards on TV. In her golden age, she enjoyed going to concerts both locally and once flew to Las Vegas to see Vince Gill live.

In her 90’s, she kept up to date with the Tour de France and enjoyed watching the Tennis Channel. She would love to watch Alexander Zverev from Hamburg, Germany, but when he cut his hair, she didn’t appreciate him as much anymore.

Full-time care was necessary during her last year when she was 96. Daughter Patty started the initial process of caretaking and months later grandson, Brett moved in to ensure that she be kept at home, which is what she enjoyed the most. Patty kept the role as primary caretaker and Brett’s primary role was renovating the house to make life easier for both.

As for her family which she loved, she was a great wife to Henry Dobashi, mother to Patricia Yasukawa, grandmother to Brett Yasukawa, and great grandmother to Raden Yasukawa and enjoyed them and their visits until her death at the age of 96 ½ in 2019.

Quote from her grandson, Brett:

“The thing about my grandma that I was always envious of was how simple she kept her life. I’m the exact opposite and sometimes things in my life get too complicated. She did things for decades and never got bored of it because routine was her thing. She didn’t have an obsession to see the world or explore. Even one of the very few times she was motivated to travel was to fly to Hilo, Hawaii for one of the major Orchid Shows in the world. She loved to stay at home and attend to her hobbies, watch her favorite shows, and keep her regimented schedule of her elixirs and daily routine,”

In the words of her daughter, “My mom and dad did the hard work, and I got to reap the rewards.”