Charles (Michy) Nomura, 95, passed away peacefully Nov. 25, 2010 at his home in Pasadena. Born in Arcadia on May 19, 1915, Michy Nomura lived most of his life in Southern California. He worked until he was 85, mostly for Wianko engineering and DB Products, Pasadena aerospace electronics firms. After Pearl Harbor, Charles Nomura was interned with thousands of other Japanese Americans under FDR’s orders. He was interned at Gila River, Arizona, which was a 15,000-acre Relocation Center, situated on land leased from the Pima Indian Agency. He also spent time in Hinsdale, Illinois, where he and his family lived with and worked for the Henry Rignery family before the war ended. After the West Coast was opened, he returned to California. Since 1945 Charles Nomura has lived in Pasadena. Aside from the love of his life, Taka, Michy also passionately enjoyed fishing, gardening and woodcarving. One of his many talents was creating tiny monarch butterfly pins from cuts of wood he hand-carved and painted. The completed butterfly pins were given as gifts.
Charles (Michy) Nomura was predeceased by grandson Neal Naito. He is survived by his wife, Taka; daughter Christine (Chris) Naito; son Stephen Nomura and his wife, Ginger; brother Sho and his wife Florence; sister Helen and her husband Ray Obazawa; granddaughters Nicki and husband Gene Lew and Anna Nomura; great-grandsons Kevin and Gregory Lew. He is also survived by a great many nieces, nephews and other relatives in the United States as well as Japan.
A celebration of his extraordinary life will be held on Saturday, Dec. 18 at 1:30 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church of Altadena, 2776 Lincoln Ave., Pasadena. Call (626) 791-4271 for more details.