In Loving Memory of

Yoshiko Kato

Yoshiko Kato, age 95, passed away peacefully the morning of May 4, 2024 in her home with her daughter, Chie (Carol) and son-in-law, Eiji at her side.

Yoshiko was born October 4, 1928 in Shimonoseki, Japan to Shigeharu Maehara (father) and Haruko (Kiyonaga) Maehara.  She was the youngest of eight children and being such was quite spoiled by her siblings and parents.  Yoshiko was just 17 years of age when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan during WW II - just 20 miles from her childhood home.  She remembered seeing the mushroom cloud as it rose in the sky that day.  During the war she would lose a brother and 2 sisters.

Yoshiko would graduate from high school and then complete finishing school. After the war, in 1952, she would marry Kanji Kato.  Kanji was a physician serving the people in the area.  Their daughter and only child, Chie, was born in 1954.  Though the family was Buddhist, Yoshiko wanted her daughter to learn another religion.  So, she enrolled Chie in a Seventh Day Adventist school in Hiroshima.  Chie came home reciting Bible verses and stories.  Her father was concerned and decided to visit the school to determine what his daughter was learning and being exposed to.  School personnel met with him and shared scripture from the book of Daniel and from Revelation.  He was quite intrigued and decided to learn more resulting in him becoming a Christian.  Being a physician, Seventh Day Adventist Health care became a point of interest for him.  He decided he wanted to see the Adventist Hospitals in the world.  His final stop was in California at Loma Linda University Hospital.  Being a physician and surgeon, he was impressed with the hospital and had a strong feeling that he "needed to be there."  He would contact Yoshiko and share this desire.  And soon the family moved to the United States.  In 1964, he became licensed in the United States and completed a 2-year Residency program.  Two years later, he would be involved in an automobile accident and severely injured – being in a coma for 2 years before he passed.  Yoshiko and Chie would remain in the United States.  Yoshiko would work for Clairol as a key punch operator driving from Los Angelas to Glendale.

At the age of 62, Yoshiko would retire and purchase a condo in a gated community.  She loved all of the activities especially playing tennis.  Yoshiko also volunteered at her church with providing lunch and childcare for Japanese women who attended a weekly Bible study.  She loved being around the little children.  She would live in her condo until she was 80.  At that time her daughter, Chie would ask her to move to Seattle and live with she and her husband.  Yoshiko joined them somewhat reluctantly, saying "You cannot play tennis in the rain!"

In 2015 Chie, her husband Eiji, and Yoshiko would move from the Seattle area to Addy, WA.  Yoshiko loved Huckleberry Mountain.  Her living quarters in the new home faced east so that she could see the mountain and watch the beautiful sunrises.  To keep herself busy, she sewed every day.  Through her church she learned of a need in Africa for funding to assist local children with schooling.  She put her love for sewing to work and made specialty bags that she would sell at the Mountainview Market in Chewelah, WA.  The proceeds of which were given to the children and their families.

Yoshiko is preceded in death by her parents, & siblings, and her husband.  She is survived by her daughter, Chie and husband, Eiji, and three grandchildren.

Please visit the online memorial website and sign his guestbook at www.danekasfuneralchapel.com. Danekas Funeral Chapel & Crematory have been entrusted with his care.