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Kaoru Sugiyama Obituary
passed away peacefully on August 9, 2013. She was born on March 22, 1931, in Berkeley, CA. Her parents were Maruo and Satsuki Fujii. Her family later moved to Richmond, CA, where she graduated from high school. She went to San Francisco State College where she graduated with a Bachelors and a Master of Arts in English. After college, she went to Japan to teach English at Kyoto Joshi Gakuen (Kyoto Women's College and high school). She taught students English conversation and several of her students won English speech competitions. While she was teaching, she learned the Japanese tea ceremony. She was asked by the president of the Kyoto Women's College to study Shin Buddhism and earned her full ordainment as a minister in September 1955. After four years, she returned to California and went to graduate school at University of California, Berkeley to earn her Master's in Library Science in 1960. During her career, she was a librarian at the Yale University Library, Pomona Public Library in California, the Los Angeles County Public Library, the University of Denver Penrose Library, the Auraria Library in Denver, Arizona State University, Glendale Community College Library in Arizona and the Mesa Community College Library. She was the director of the Mesa Community College Library for several years. She married Rev. Unryu Sugiyama on June 24, 1962. They had three children, Ungyo Lynn (Mamiko) Sugiyama, Erica Satoko Sugiyama Hill, and Enid Takako (Joseph) Murray. She has five grandchildren Nanako Sugiyama, Dylon Hill, Ehsa Murray, Nicholas Murray, and Aaron Murray. She was active with the Buddhist temples in California, Colorado, and Arizona. She enjoyed teaching, drawing art, reading and spending time with her grandchildren. She enjoyed a rich and full life. Visitation will be on Friday, August 23rd from 5:00pm to 8:00pm at the Arizona Buddhist Temple, 4142 W. Clarendon Ave. Phoenix, AZ 85019. Memorial Service will be held on Saturday, August 24th at 11:00am at the Arizona Buddhist Temple. Please call 602-278-0036 for further information.
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Memories and Condolences
for Kaoru Sugiyama
3 Entries
Raquel Leyva
August 22, 2024
OMG. I loved your Mom. We became friends because we were both new chairs of our departments. We kept on track because many times difficult, but we had each other. Once or twice we had to get up from these chair meetings because of the makeup of the group. We were the only women there and the only chairs of color! So in those days, they felt they could say anything , especially of students. Then one time one said , that they wished the college was back to days when the college only had white students! That's when we got up and left. Your mom was always so nice and polite and didn't want to cause any issues. But she knew ! Was the feisty one. But she loved me and stood by me. I have very happy memories of Kaye. Blessings always. Thank you for sending this remainder.
Raquel Leyva
August 23, 2013
Dear Sugiyama Family,
I had the privilege of knowing your Mother during our tenure at MCC. She was so calm and patient when we'd sit in the "Chair" meetings together and remind me through her demeanor to do the same :-). I'd love hearing about her experiences and the great love she had for your father and her family. Please accept my condolences during this difficult time.
Arunee Grow
August 23, 2013
I am so sorry about the lost of Kaye. We worked together at Mesa Community College.
The best days for us was when we took students to Disneyland.
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