Doris Ann Hirota
2026
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Doris Ann Hirota(née Derleth), 93.
Doris was born in Rochester, New York, just as the nation headed into the start of the Great Depression. The youngest of 7, she eventually moved to Chicago, Illinois where she attended nursing school and met Tomio, a medical student assigned to teach the student nurses how to scrub for surgery.
They fell in love at a time when marriage between Japanese and Caucasian people was not only unusual but frowned upon by society, barely 10 years after the end of World War II during which Tomio and his family were incarcerated in an Arizona internment camp.
In 1965, she and Tomio (then an OB/GYN at Saint Joseph Hospital) bought their home in Santa Ana where they raised 8 children and where all of the grand and great-grandkids loved to play, always having a hard time leaving Gramma/GrammaGramma's house. She was ever-present in all of their lives.
She was deeply devoted to her Catholic faith, an active member of Holy Family parish. She faithfully attended daily Mass, and continuously prayed for her family, friends, and those praying for her, offering up her discomforts for their benefit. When unable to physically go, she continued to attend by watching online Masses from home.
It was in this same home, on January 14, 2026, she passed away at the age of 93. She was surrounded by family to help with her transition, though we never fully believed the time would come to let her go. After decades of sharing her with so many, it was their time to have that last little bit of her for themselves before she was called back to the God she loved so faithfully, and to finally be reunited with her husband, who had been patiently waiting for her since his passing in 1997.
Doris is preceded in death by her husband, Tomio, and survived by her children Thomas Hirota (Denise), Mary Walters (Paul), Claire Sylvester (Bill), Ellen Hirota, Timothy Hirota (Jan), Peter Hirota (Denise), Ann Spencer (John), and Dominic Hirota, as well as many grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces, and nephews.
In lieu of flowers, kindly consider donating to the St. Vincent de Paul Society through Holy Family Catholic Church, Orange, CA: https://giving.parishsoft.com/App/Form/5eae6315-7df0-4bb2-bb13-0d0fda1d7e98
Doris was born in Rochester, New York, just as the nation headed into the start of the Great Depression. The youngest of 7, she eventually moved to Chicago, Illinois where she attended nursing school and met Tomio, a medical student assigned to teach the student nurses how to scrub for surgery.
They fell in love at a time when marriage between Japanese and Caucasian people was not only unusual but frowned upon by society, barely 10 years after the end of World War II during which Tomio and his family were incarcerated in an Arizona internment camp.
In 1965, she and Tomio (then an OB/GYN at Saint Joseph Hospital) bought their home in Santa Ana where they raised 8 children and where all of the grand and great-grandkids loved to play, always having a hard time leaving Gramma/GrammaGramma's house. She was ever-present in all of their lives.
She was deeply devoted to her Catholic faith, an active member of Holy Family parish. She faithfully attended daily Mass, and continuously prayed for her family, friends, and those praying for her, offering up her discomforts for their benefit. When unable to physically go, she continued to attend by watching online Masses from home.
It was in this same home, on January 14, 2026, she passed away at the age of 93. She was surrounded by family to help with her transition, though we never fully believed the time would come to let her go. After decades of sharing her with so many, it was their time to have that last little bit of her for themselves before she was called back to the God she loved so faithfully, and to finally be reunited with her husband, who had been patiently waiting for her since his passing in 1997.
Doris is preceded in death by her husband, Tomio, and survived by her children Thomas Hirota (Denise), Mary Walters (Paul), Claire Sylvester (Bill), Ellen Hirota, Timothy Hirota (Jan), Peter Hirota (Denise), Ann Spencer (John), and Dominic Hirota, as well as many grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces, and nephews.
In lieu of flowers, kindly consider donating to the St. Vincent de Paul Society through Holy Family Catholic Church, Orange, CA: https://giving.parishsoft.com/App/Form/5eae6315-7df0-4bb2-bb13-0d0fda1d7e98
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