George Takami Matsuura

George Takami Matsuura was born Jan. 9th, 1916 in Oregon City, Oregon to parents Chotaro and Kame Matsuura. He was the seventh of nine children which included: Albert, Clifford, Genevieve, Martha, Marge, Sumako, Ruth and Alice. His folks farmed around Tigard, Oregon and then moved to Banks, Oregon in 1932 where they raised strawberries and a variety of vegetables. His father was the President of the Oregon Buddhist Church in Portland, Oregon. When there were funerals in Eastern Oregon, he would drive the Reverend there and became well acquainted with the Japanese families around Ontario, Weiser, and Vale. So....... when WWII started and the order for Japanese were to move out of the coastal areas, his father decided to move the family to Eastern Oregon. Dad was left behind to finish the harvest of the farm. After harvest, he had a hard time getting a travel permit from the Western Defense Command and had to hire a lawyer to get the permit to travel to Ontario to join the family. On the day that all Japanese were being evacuated, his permit to travel was approved. They were not allowed to drive the Columbia River highway because they were not allowed to go near the Bonneville Dam. There were five family members and two friends in one family pickup and a passenger car. They could only take as many belongings as the pickup could hold and had to leave the rest behind. After arriving safely in Ontario, they began farming around Vale where they lived in tents until after the harvest. In 1943, he began farming in the Weiser area. It was there that he met his future wife, Nellie Hamada, while she was on work release from the Minidoka Internment Camp. They were married on March 3rd 1944. In 1946, they moved to Fruitland Idaho where they would live for close to 50 years and raise their two daughters Marcia and Peggy. Dad raised onions, alfalfa seed, cherries and apples. He even had fun with cutter bees which had Mom shaking her head at times! He was a hard worker, rising early and taking a 10 min. power nap on the floor after lunch and working until dusk. Vacations in those days were trips to Parkdale, Oregon during off season to see our family which created memories we cherish to this day. He would also throw in fishing trips that Mom so enjoyed. All he would say is "Wanna go fishing?" and in less than 15 minutes she would have lunch packed ready to go with a big smile on her face. Dad had the uncanny knack of being able to unravel any bad knot that we kids would manage to put in our fishing lines, as well as releasing all of our snags. We wonder how he managed to get any fishing in at all himself. After retirement he continued to grow a productive garden, several fruit trees and beautiful flowers. If you knew George, you knew of his huge hibiscus flowers that were featured in the newspaper and shared with many friends. When he was 70, he took up golfing and enjoyed many outings with his buddies. He, also, became interested in the stock market and enjoyed researching and buying stocks. Up until just a week ago, Dad sat on the couch every day and wrote in a notebook what each of his stocks was doing that day. He made frequent visits to see Kerry and Heather at E.D Jones to get advice.
Dad had a passion for music. He had quite the collection on CD's. Classical, Jazz, Broadway music, Bocelli, Frank Sinatra - just to name a few. Dad would frequently be found humming or singing a tune while doing anything. Many of his friends and family may remember him for getting up and singing a song at family gatherings or at his friends' birthday or anniversary celebrations. Among those may have been "Stardust, My Way, What a Wonderful Life, or Clementine. A memory that Kristin and Jed will cherish forever is when Dad sang "Beautiful Dreamer" at their wedding reception. Before he sang, he told them that it was a song that mom loved. Eight years later, Kristin says people still remember and mention that about her grandpa singing at her wedding. Dad would write jokes or quotes in his little notebooks that he kept in his shirt pocket. He also had a special folder labeled "Jokes" that he would refer to if he were going to a special function. He never left unprepared to tell a joke if given the opportunity. When we were reading through them this week, we found this one that made all of us laugh and smile: "If I knew I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself!" At each Matsuura family reunion, Dad would joyously hold out his arms to each niece and declare "oh, my favorite niece!!" and would receive a hug. He did this to all the nieces as they would come in the room, much to the amusement of us all! And each niece in return would always announce themselves to him as "your favorite niece". A wonderful family joke! Our reunion is coming up in 6 weeks and we assure each of you that yes, you are his favorite niece! Aside from the many hours of managing the farm, Dad was active in this Buddhist Temple. From the beginning of its existence he served on numerous committees and attended many activities, contributing and donating his time in any way that he could. He was also very proud to be a member of the Fruitland Lions Club. Even when he moved to Payette, he remained in the Fruitland club. Year after year, you could find him helping color and hide Easter eggs for the kids Easter egg hunts, volunteering at the Fruitland schools giving eye sight tests, or cooking barbecued chicken at the Fruitland Spring Fair. You could always find him because he always had a big brimmed hat on to shade him from the hot sun while standing over the barbecue grills. In the last several years he also volunteered at the Four Rivers Cultural Center and the Community Concert Association. Upon advice from his mother while growing up, he made it his philosophy to be generous when making donations. She told him "When you make money be stingy, but when you spend it, spend it beautifully". He was proud that he could make donations to the initial construction of the Idaho-Oregon Buddhist Temple, the Lions Club Sight and Hearing van, the Old Fruitland High School for assembly hall curtains, Four Rivers Cultural Center and Japanese Gardens, TVCC to establish an annual music scholarship and also, toward construction of the new science building, Treasure Valley Community Concert committee for renovation of the concert piano, and to the Buddhist Churches of America. He also set up college education accounts for his 3 grandchildren and his 4 great-grandchildren. We are so thankful and grateful to have had our father with us for so long. We knew each minute counted and we were able to express our thanks to him for all he has done for us. He, in turn, told us how lucky he was to have such a good family where everyone was doing well. In his last week of life he told his granddaughters that he had the best family and passed along a tip, " buy low, sell high and get lucky!" We are so grateful for the care he received from the Meadowbrook staff and those at Heart and Home Hospice. Knowing he is having a joyous reunion with mom, and all his brothers and sisters and friends on the other side eases the pain of our loss. Peg had read this quote at Dad's Almost 90th birthday party and we know it is still fitting for Dad:
Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming "WOO HOO, What a Ride!" We sincerely want to thank each and every one of you for coming today to celebrate our father's life.