Hatsuko “Suzie” Kusaka
November 14, 1919 – August 27, 2020
Hatsuko “Suzie” Kusaka passed away peacefully at the Walnut Village Retirement Community in Anaheim, California at the age of 100. She was born in Rexburg, Idaho to Yunojo Sato and Hamayo Aizawa Sato of the Miyagi-ken prefecture in Japan. As the eldest of nine children, she supported her widowed mother in providing for her family from the time she was a teenager. After she met and married Shuichi Kusaka, she became a farmer’s wife in Idaho Falls, Idaho, and several years later the family relocated to Anaheim. There they raised strawberries for several more years. After raising her four children, Hatsuko started working at the Disneyland Hotel, retiring at the age of 81. She is preceded in death by her husband and by three of her four children, Masao, Ted, and Naomi Kusaka, her sister Yoshiko Iizuka, and her brothers Shigeichi, Goro and Takuji Sato. She is survived by her daughter Alice Kusaka Sworder, grandson Brian Sworder, granddaughter-in law Katharine Dobos Sworder, sister Shigeko Takahashi, brother Akira Sato, sisters Masako and Mitsuko Sato, and many cousins, nieces and nephews in California and Japan. Hatsuko will always be remembered as a kind, generous, courageous woman whose life was devoted to caring for others. Her family and friends will cherish their memories of her forever. A private graveside service at Memory Garden Memorial Park in Brea, California is planned.