Sally Sadako Shoji

Sally was born in Seattle Washington and raised there with her sister Betty. During WWII, she and her family were interned in Minidoka, Idaho. She attended the University of Washington where she graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Nursing.

Following graduation and moving to Southern California, she worked for LA County in public health and then met and married Jim. After raising three wonderful children, she worked for Meadow Oaks School as a school nurse. She then worked as an audiologist and returned to public health working for LA County where she retired after 20 years.

Her passion was her grandchildren helping them grow and showering them with gifts. She had a gift of telling funny and interesting stories about her childhood growing up in Seattle, Washington which the grandchildren love and retell to this day.

She also loved to travel and overseas trips including Europe, Japan, Africa, and Peru. She loved Italy and her ancestral land of Japan. She was always up for an adventure like the extremely “bumpy” range rover safari trek across parts of Tanzania.

She was a kind and generous person. In fact, her grandchildren say "grandma always talks to strangers." Whether at the grocery store or on some remote hiking trail, she would strike up a conversation with people and get their life story.

Sally is survived by her husband, Jim, three children (Russell, Lesley and Jennifer) and their respective spouses (Rebekka, William, and Shawn) and four grandchildren (Zoe, Sadie, Grace and Derek).