OBITUARY: June Matsuda Kishi

KISHI, JUNE MATSUDA, 88, passed away peacefully, surrounded by her loving family, on July 3, 2011 at Morristown Medical Center in New Jersey.

Relatives and friends are invited to attend the memorial service at 2 p.m. on Saturday, July 23, at Fellowship Village, 8000 Fellowship Road in Basking Ridge, N.J., 07920.

June was born in Napa, Calif. on November 12, 1922 to Frank J. and Yone Matsuda and grew up in San Francisco. In 1942, during her second year at San Francisco Junior College, she and her family were interned at Topaz Relocation Center, Utah. After being confined for 1 1/2 years, she was released and relocated to New York City where she attended McDowell School of Design. She worked many years for fashion designer Kiviette.

She married Hajime James Kishi in 1949 and moved to Huntington Station, N.Y., then Princeton, N.J. for 44 years until their final move to Fellowship Village in 2005.

She was predeceased by her brother, Ken Matsuda. Surviving are “Jim,” her beloved husband of 62 years; her three children, Ken, Karen (John) Powers and Donna (Paul) Abbott; along with her four grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her memory to The New York Buddhist Church, 331 Riverside Drive, New York, NY  10025-3421.