Nancy Kuwata Uchimiya, wife, mother and grandmother, died peacefully at the age of 96 on May 13, with her daughter Diane by her side. Aiko Kuwata was born in 1928 and raised in Los Angeles, the third of six children. As a child in the prewar years, she adopted the name Nancy. During World War II, she and her family were sent to Manzanar, initially without her father, who had been detained by the FBI when Pearl Harbor was bombed and held by the government for a year before he was reunited with his family at the internment camp. The authorities never told Nancy’s family why or where they kept him during that period.
Forty years later, she filed a FOIA request to get answers that were long overdue. The friends she made at Manzanar remained close for the rest of her life.
After the war, she became a legal secretary for a judge. She met her husband, George, a veteran of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, when they were a part of the same informal ski group. After Nancy and George married, they moved to Garden Grove and raised two daughters who also learned to love skiing on regular trips to Mammoth. Nancy and George’s large families lived close by, so gatherings were frequent, often at their home. George died 15 years before Nancy, in 2010.
Nancy enjoyed gardening and crafts — tole painting and quilting were favorites. Both were hobbies she shared both with her sister, Margaret and many friends and relatives.
She especially loved visits with her grandchildren, watering the garden with them, sharing meals with them, and inevitably beating them at hearts (often “shooting the moon” almost inadvertently, or so she claimed). She was beloved by her family and extended family. When both her daughters left the state, she cherished the regular visits of several nieces and nephews and her sister-in-law, Della Uchimiya. Nancy is survived by her daughters, Ellen (Matt), and Diane (Glenn); and her grandchildren, Ichiro, Allegra and Brennan.