Phyllis Oda
Aug. 1, 1943 – Dec. 8, 2022
Phyllis Oda
ODA, PHYLLIS passed away peacefully on December 8, 2022. She was born in Gila River Internment Camp during World War II, daughter of Takeshi and Shizue Deguchi, and grew up in San Francisco, CA. She was a kind and loving woman who lived life with a smile. She loved music, especially Elvis Presley, dancing, astronomy, and the 49ers. She made apple pies from scratch and could hem any shirt or pants, a necessity for those of limited stature. She was a quiet trailblazer, graduating from UC Berkeley with a degree in Chemistry in the 1960’s. At her first job, she learned she didn’t like working in a ‘smelly lab’. So she made a career running the corporate library at a chemical engineering company and was recognized for introducing digitization to a library that had once been organized by book color. She was struck with dementia many years ago, a disease that took her away in pieces.
While we are heartbroken she is no longer with us, we find peace knowing she is free from a body that had become a prison. She is survived by her husband Richard Oda, daughter Susan Oda, son-in-law Jeffery Stone, granddaughters Matsumi and Hanako Stone, sister Naomi Guttmann, niece Amy Guttmann, nephew Greg Guttmann and their loving families. Our family is planning private celebrations of her life in Sacramento and Honolulu.
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