Notes |
- http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=shimono&GSfn=suzue&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSst=13&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=133331219&df=all&
1 April 1930 census of Wahiawa, Honolulu County, HI found the Kodama family living in dwelling #10. Father Kaoru Kodama was employed as a salesman in a retail drug store.
Kaoru Kodama 42 Japan Japan Japan
Mitsue 34 Japan Japan Japan
Fumiko 15 HI Japan Japan
Taro 12 HI Japan Japan
Kazue 9 HI Japan Japan
Suzue 8 HI Japan Japan
Muneshige 5 HI Japan Japan
Sumie 4 HI Japan Japan
Nobuo 2 9/12 HI Japan Japan
Tatsuo 1 3/12 HI Japan Japan
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Kodama family made a visit to Japan in the summer of 1932. With the exception of oldest daughter Fumiko, the family returned to Honolulu, Hawaii, aboard the S.S. President McKinley, departing Kobe, Japan, on 22 August 1932 and arriving Honolulu, Hawaii, on 31 August 1932. Their permanent residence was listed as Wahiawa, Hawaii. The family members included:
Kaoru Kodama, age 44, drug-store keeper, born in Hiroshima, Japan
Mitsu Kodama, age 37, housewife, born in Hiroshima, Japan
Taro Kodama, age 16, student, born in Wahiawa, Hawaii
Kazue Kodama, age 12, student, born in Wahiawa, Hawaii
Suzue Kodama, age 10, student, born in Wahiawa, Hawaii
Muneshige Kodama, age 8, student, born in Wahiawa, Hawaii
Sumie Kodama, age 6, student, born in Wahiawa, Hawaii
Nobuo Kodama, age 5, student, born in Wahiawa, Hawaii
Tatsuo Kodama, age 4, child, born in Wahiawa, Hawaii
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kaoru Kodama moved his entire family from Wahiawa, Hawaii, back to his hometown of Nakatsuwara (near Otake, now called Kono) in the Hiroshima Prefecture of Japan, near Iwakuni, in 1936. Oldest daughter Fumiko returned to Hawaii in 1938 to marry Lawrence Kunihisa. Son Taro Kodama returned to Hawaii on 31 January 1941. The rest of the children, except for Sumie and Muneshige, returned to Wahiawa in 1948, after World War II ended in August 1945. They all lived with the Kunihisa family and were employed in Kunihisa's department store in Wahiawa (Kassler), until they were able to strike out on their own.
While Suzue was living with the Kunihisa family, she had such a talent for designing and sewing clothes that the Kunihisa family paid to send her to the Honolulu Style Center school where she graduated on 28 May 1949. She later became employed as a seamstress with a large clothing manufacturer in Honolulu.
During the period that the family was living in Nakatsuwara, now called Kono, their home, which was built on the bank of the adjacent river, was washed away by flood waters. They lost all of their possessions including family photos and momentos.
The Kodama children all attended schools in Iwakuni. After crossing a bridge to the village of Oze, they walked south across a mountain to the village of Sekido then along a river to their schools in the Iwakini area. They were all pretty fast walkers, so the journey typically took about 45 minutes each way, depending upon the weather.
22 year-old Suzue Kodama said that at 8:45 a.m. on the morning of August 6, 1945, the day the atomic bomb was dropped on nearby Hiroshima, she was washing clothes by the river in their Hiroshima Prefecture hometown of Nakatsuwara (Kono), near Otake. She saw a bright flash in the sky followed by a loud boom, like a thunder clap. News of the bombing came to their attention later as the day progressed. Later, a young boy in tattered and burned clothes came by on his way from Hiroshima to his home town in the mountains nearby.
After the war ended, because she was fluent in both Japanese and English, Suzue was able to get a job as a waitress at the nearby Otake Naval Base which had been taken over by the British Navy.
Several of the Kodama children (Kazue, Suzue, Nobuo and Tatsuo) sailed from Yokohama, Japan, to Honolulu, Hawaii, aboard the ship General G. H. Gordon. They left Yokohama on 30 April 1948 and arrived in Honolulu on 7 May 1948. They listed their home address as P.O. Box 927, Wahiawa, Oahu, Teritory of Hawaii. They said that they had last departed from the United States on 17 June 1936.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Obituary -
Suzue Kodama Shimono
July 17, 2014
Suzue Kodama Shimono, 91, of Honolulu, a retired seamstress, died at home. She was born in Wahiawa. She is survived by daughters Linda S. Shigetomi and Sharon T. Shimono, and a grandchild.
Private services. No flowers. No monetary offerings.
Honolulu Star Advertiser Thursday 14 August 2014
Note: Suzue actually died in her sleep at a care home in upper Makakilo, Hawaii.
|