Toshiyuki Baba

Mr. Toshiyuki Baba 95, resident of Carpinteria since 1969, passed away peacefully on June 21, 2012. Born in Los Angeles on May 22, 1917. When he was an infant, his father was killed in a car accident, leaving his mother without resources. She returned to Japan, taking Toshiyuki and his siblings with her. Toshiyuki lived in Japan until his teenage years, when he returned to Los Angeles. During WWII, he was interned in a government internment camp in Rohwer, Arkansas and returned to Los Angeles after the war, where he met and married Mitsuko Sera on June 23, 1949. In the 1960’s they adopted Reiko and Nori from Japan, and started their family in Gardena.
For twenty-five years after the end of WWII, Toshiyuki Baba worked for Paul Shinoda of the San Lorenzo Nursery Company in Torrance and moved to Carpinteria when the nursery was relocated in Santa Barbara in 1961. In 1969, he stared “T. Baba Nursery” in Carpinteria and operated his own flower nursery and avocado orchard.
Before he moved to Carpinteria, T. Baba was President at Gardena Buddhist Church. As an active member in the Santa Barbara Buddhist Church, he took special joy visiting with friends at the Buddhist Church monthly socials.
He was predeceased by sisters Shizuko and Hayako and his brother Hiroshi. He is survived by his beloved sister Setsuko Mukai, daughter Reiko Karl of Carpinteria, son Wesley Nori (Irene) of Los Angeles, grandsons Michael and Tommy Karl, Bradley and Derrick Baba, great grandsons Nathan and Matthew Karl.
Memorial Service will be held on Saturday August 4th, at 11:00 a. m. at Santa Barbara Buddhist Temple, 1015 East Montecito St, Santa Barbara, with Rev. Henry Toryo Adams officiating. Burial Service August 14 at 1:30 p.m., Green Hills Memorial Park, Rancho Palos Verdes.