Jean T Miyamoto

Jean Tazuko Miyamoto, 92, of Commerce City, Colorado passed away peacefully on January 6, 2016 at Sunny Acres Villa in Thornton Colorado. Preceded in death by her husband Fred Miyamoto. Survived by her children, Kathlyn Matsunaga, Richard Miyamoto, daughter-in-law, Marlene Miyamoto, grand-daughter Keri Matsunaga Gottlieb (Tad Gottlieb), grandson Garrett Matsunaga and great-grandchildren Darian Matsunaga, Kristena Matsunaga-Aragon, G’Anna Matsunaga, Jasmine Matsunaga-Aragon and Akira Matsunaga.

Born on November 7, 1923 in San Gabriel California, Jean moved to Long Beach California with her parents, Kura and Moichi Hiratsuka and 7 beloved brothers and sisters who remained extremely close throughout their lives: Kazuye (Ozaki), Shigeo, Sonoye (Okamura), Yutaka, Michiko (Kawakami), Kimiko (Kato), and Chizuko, (Mura), to start the family strawberry farm. After the inception of World War II in 1941, Jean was relocated to an assembly center at the Santa Anita Race Track in California and was then moved to Jerome, Arkansas, where she was placed in an internment camp for Japanese-Americans. After the war, many in the family moved to Colorado to begin farming again. In 1951, Jean married Fred Miyamoto. Later, together with her sister, Kimiko and husband Sam Kato, Jean and Fred bought and ran K&M Grocery store. In later years, Jean worked for Sky Chef, an airline catering company, whose airline flight discounts allowed her to travel often, together with Fred. Jean’s favorite places to travel to were Las Vegas and Hawaii.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Jean’s name may be made to the Tri-State Denver Buddhist Temple, 1947 Lawrence St, Denver, Colorado 80202.