Kimiye “Kimi” Nakagawa

NAKAGAWA, Kimi…
Peacefully at Middlesex Terrace, on Saturday, April 30 2016, Kimi Nakagawa in her 100th year. Beloved wife of the late Frank Takashi Nakagawa (2000). Dear mother of James Nakagawa and his wife Lynda. Cherished grandmother of Chris (Robyn) and Glenn Nakagawa and loving great- grandmother of Kal and Zyia.  Kimi was born on March 5, 1917 in Ebrne, B.C., the daughter of Japanese immigrants.  She was an entrepreneur at the early age of 20 running her own beauty salon business in Vancouver.  She met and married Frank at the beginning of World War 11.  They were interned in 1942 and moved to work on the Hepburn farm near St. Thomas.  After the war she and Frank settled in London.  Kimi worked in a beauty salon and he in various restaurants and a few years later they both owned their own establishments.  When Frank bought Hook’s Restaurant in the early fifties, Kimi gave up her salon to help him run the larger restaurant which developed into a busy banquet and catering business.  Years after Frank retired (the first time) Kimi became manager of the Elizabeth Arden Salon in the old Simpson’s Department Store, but when Frank was forced out of retirement and back to Hook’s, Kimi followed right behind him.  During the late sixties they both took a great interest in harness horses and spent many years following them around race tracks all over Canada and the U.S.  After retirement their only real interests were doting over their grandsons and following the Leafs and Jays.  Kimi was predeceased by Frank in 2000 and after suffering from a serious fall in 2012 lived at Middlesex Terrace Nursing Home in Delaware.  The family would like to thank the staff at Middlesex Terrace for their excellent care and love for Kimi; we really can’t thank them enough!  A celebration for Kimi’s rich and accomplished life will be held early this summer.
          A violet by a mossy stone
          half hidden from the eye
          Fair as a star when only one
          is shining in the sky.
          –Wordsworth
       
Arrangements entrusted to A. Millard George Funeral Home, London, 519-433-5184.  Online condolences, memories and photographs shared at www.amgfh.com