Sumile Jeannette Imahara

Sumile Jeannette Matsumoto Imahara was born on October 22, 1934 to the late Shiguru (Sam) and Shizu Imai Matsumoto in Salinas, CA, where she lived with her parents, grandparents and her two brothers. Sumi was in second grade when Pearl Harbor was attacked and her Japanese American family was interned and sent to Poston, an internment camp in Arizona best known for its dust storms. She attended school while in camp and did not remember it as a bad experience for herself, but expect it was hard on her family. When they were released after the war, the family decided to move to Oakland, CA and later to Berkeley. Sumi attended and graduated from Mills College in Oakland in Liberal Arts. There was a great demand in California for teachers, so she took additional courses at San Jose State and taught in nearby schools at the same time under an intern program. She taught classes in California for 2½ years. In 1961, teachers were being heavily recruited to go overseas due to the Berlin crisis and Sumi got a contract with the U.S State Department to teach 2nd and 3rd grade military dependent children at an Army post in Dachau, Germany. She had asked for a small school near a big city, so she was sent there since the school only had 3 teachers and it was near Munich. She met Walter, 1st Lieutenant, who was stationed there in the Army. They were the only two Japanese American at that Army post.

Sumi loved to travel. In 1962 she and another teacher purchased a used car and travelled all throughout Europe. Sumi and Walter dated for 2 years when the decision was made to get married in 1963. Since they were in Germany, it required two ceremonies. The first was a German civil ceremony on May 29th and the second was held at the Army Chapel on May 30th. Walter was discharged from the Army in October 1963 and they moved to Baton Rouge where Sumi began teaching second grade at Greenbrier Elementary School and enjoyed her new large Imahara family. Sumi continued to teach and began helping at Imahara’s greenhouses on Antioch Rd. When Imahara’s Nursery and Garden Center opened in 1968, she also worked there on the weekends. She had a great love for dogs and became very attached to their first dog Fuji, a German Shepard who was the watch dog for the nursery. This love continued throughout her life and their dogs brought her great happiness. In 1976, Sumi was still teaching but was thinking she would like to travel more and would like to work for a travel agency. So after being a teacher for 13 years in Louisiana, she started a new career as a travel agent with Malcolm Travel Agency, and then later with 2 other agencies. Every family should have a travel agent like Sumi who would happily take care of all your travel arrangements. She and her good friend Bobby Spano both loved to travel, and over many years, they would end up making an astonishing 28 trips around the world together. In 2002, the demand for travel agents had greatly diminished following the 9/11/2001 World Trade Center event, so Sumi retired in October of that year, having been a travel agent for almost 25 years. Sumi was an excellent cook and was always thinking of others. For decades she would prepare and bring food several times a week whenever it was needed, both inside and outside the family.

Quiet and even-tempered, Sumi would always have a smile, bring a present, and have something nice to say. Sumi was greatly loved and admired by everyone that knew her and will be greatly missed.

At 7:37 am on Easter Sunday 3/31/24, at 89 year old and 60 years of marriage, Sumile Jeannette Matsumoto Imahara left this world to be with the Lord.

She is preceded in death by her parents Shiguru (Sam) and Shizu Imai Matsumoto, as well as her older brother Malcolm Matsumoto.

She is survived by her husband Walter, her brother Tony Matsumoto, and multitudes of nieces and nephews.