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William Namba Obituary
January 17, 1943 - March 29, 2025
Fresno, California - William "Bill" Toshio Namba passed away on March 29, 2025, at the age of 82. He was born on January 17, 1943, in Poston, AZ, at the Poston War Relocation Center. After the war, Bill's family resettled in Fresno, CA. He graduated from Edison High School in 1960, where he was an All-City football player. He earned an Art degree from Fresno State. In 1966, Bill was drafted into the U.S. Army and stationed in Augsburg, Germany. Before leaving for Germany, Bill married his high school sweetheart, JoAnn Domoto. They had two daughters. In 1970, Bill opened his automotive service station, D&N Auto, which he ran until his retirement in 2020. Bill is survived by his wife of 58 years, JoAnn; his two children, Michelle Namba, Kristy Namba-Young (Richard); granddaughter Ashley Namba-Young; and sister, Leslee Namba. He is preceded in death by his parents, Dr. Isamu "Sam" and Tsuruko Namba, and his brother, Ross. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, April 19, at 2:00 p.m. at Fresno Buddhist Temple.
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Memories and Condolences
for William Namba
5 Entries
Ralph Bejarano
May 1, 2025
I´m very sorry to see that Bill has passed. I first met Bill when I worked for Ted and Timmy Haw at New China Service Station in Chinatown. Bill and Lester would come Roaring Up in their 57 Chevy´s. I was 16 years old so they were Impressive Guy´s. Bill became a Friend and I also would have Him work on My cars on First and McKinley. I´m Better Off for having known Bill. May He Rest In Peace.
Randy Kevorkian
April 28, 2025
So sorry to hear the passing of Bill
I meet Bill in the early 1970's at his 76 station at McKinley and First St ,Bill was a great mechanic and wonderful friend. No one was more honest than Bill. When Bill worked on your car it was done right.
Gone but not forgotten.
May the Lord be with his family at this difficult time.
John Foley
April 11, 2025
Bill was one of my best friends. He got me into car racing at Madera Speedway. We spent many hours at his shop working on our race car. He'd need to get all of his customer's cars done and then we would work on the race car until the late hours of the night. We'd spend most of our Saturday's together at Madera Speedway, always eating teriyaki bowls from Dai Ichi.
My entire family spent many Friday nights at Bill's station and then all of us would go to dinner together, a big family. Bill and JoAnn are the God Parents to my son John Jr.
Bill taught me a lot about working on cars and he would always tease me about breaking bolts.
Bill helped get me into the Fresno Nisei Golf Club. We played in many tournaments together and always had a great time.
After we moved, we would talk often over the phone and always had a good laugh about racing, working on cars, golf and all the antics we had with our friends. I don't believe I ever talked as long with anyone over the phone more than with Bill. Those conversations will be truly missed.
I will sincerely miss Bill. He will always be family along with JoAnn, Michelle and Kristi.
David Miranda
April 7, 2025
My condolences to the Namba family. My name is David M. and I was a classmate of Ross at Fresno high school. We had some classes together and we became good friends. I'm sorry to hear of Bill's passing. May the Holy Spirit guide you into heaven. My uncle Henry Perez knew Bill back in the day. I had stop into Bill's auto shop at Dakota and Fruit for some mechanical advice , which he gladly took time to explain.
Bill and Ross are remember in our hearts and minds forever.
Daniel Boyajian
April 7, 2025
One of the best and honest auto mechanics in Fresno!He worked on my brother Bobby's car on years eve to get it going , something my brother would never forget!Bill you were the best!May God bless your family for sharing you with Fresno!
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