George Saburo Kajiwara

George Kajiwara was born August 22, 1925 in Brighton, Colorado to Genzaburo Kajiwara and Kikuno (Matsuoka) Kajiwara and grew up, along with three older siblings, on farms in Brighton and Fort Lupton, Colorado. He went to a rural school in Brighton before entering Fort Lupton High School where he graduated in 1943.

Like his two older brothers, George was drafted into the army during World War II. After training at Camp Blanding, Florida he was shipped to Europe and assigned to the Headquarters Company of the 442nd Infantry Division.

After being discharged from the army in 1946, George relocated to New York City and lived with his sister, Alberta Yanagida, and her family in the Bronx. Later he moved to his own apartment after he found work in the office of a freight company.

In the early 1950s George met Lily Sakurai at a church social in New York City. Lily returned back to her home in Portland in 1952; George relocated to Portland, and Lily and George were married in Portland in 1953. They had a daughter, Karen, and Lily took time off to be a stay-at-home mother before getting her degree at Portland State University and returning back to work.

George worked for a time as an installer at Ace Radio & TV, and then as a scheduler and purchaser for ESI (Electro Scientific Industries) in Portland. In 1964, he started working at Hyster Company, and he continued working as an inventory planner at Hyster for 19 years until the company shut down its Portland manufacturing facility, moved manufacturing to Illinois, and laid off hundreds of workers.

After volunteering for a time with the American Cancer Society he was hired to work in data processing at their Portland office. Upon his retirement, George volunteered daily for many years with the Japanese senior hot lunch program, operating as Ikoi no Kai, located at Epworth United Methodist Church.

George and Lily were avid sports fans and were Portland Trailblazer season ticket holders, as part of a group. George also enjoyed watching the Seattle Mariners, the University of Oregon Ducks and other football, golf and Olympic sports. He went golfing as often as he could, rain or shine, tried his hand at calligraphy, collected stamps and coins, often had his camera with him – taking photos throughout much of his lifetime, and liked going to a variety of restaurants, especially having chirashi at Takahashi’s.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Lily Kajiwara, and his siblings Tom Kajiwara, Alberta Yanagida, and Johnnie Kajiwara. He is survived by his daughter, Karen Kajiwara; niece, Karen Bano (Corky Bano); nephew, Bob Yanagida (Diane Gifford-Gonzalez); niece, Phyllis Kajiwara; niece, Jan Kajiwara; and nephew, Tom Kajiwara, Jr. (Teresa Kajiwara).

A memorial service will be held Saturday, March 12, at 2:00 p.m., at Bateman Carroll Funeral Home, Gresham, Oregon. In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be made to: Ikoi no Kai, 1333 S.E. 28th Avenue, Portland OR 97214.