Arthur Hiro Hamanishi

Arthur Hiro (Art) Hamanishi Arthur Hiro (Art) Hamanishi, 91, was born on Oct. 19, 1915 to Yasukichi and Kiri Hamanishi in Puyallup, Wash., and passed away on Sept. 27, 2007 in Payette, Idaho. He was one of eight children. Art lived most of his youth in the Tacoma/Seattle area helping with the family truck farm and grocery store. He loved playing baseball and played semi-pro teams as a catcher. At the outbreak of W.W. II as an adult he was able to obtain a work permit and was sent to the mid-west to work at various jobs. He ended up in Indiana working at a small farm for the Ikeda family. Art and Suye Ikeda met at her family farm in Indiana. Art worked at the family farm in the early part of the war. When he proposed marriage to Suye, they decided to make their married home in Ontario, Ore. where Art had friends and a job offer. They were a typical married Japanese-American couple in the mid - 1940's, working in the process packing sheds and dreaming of farming on their own some day. They started farming in 1947 and worked as a team in their approach of blending farming activities with good marketing and financial approaches. They farmed successfully for 50 years, incorporating as Hamanishi Farms, Inc. in 1974. The farm is still active with Art and Suye's daughter and son-in-law operating the farm. Art and Suye grew mainly onions and mint. Art was one of the first farmers to bring mint to the valley in the early 1960's and was on the founding partners in forming the Idaho Mint Distillers, Inc. in 1966, which is still operating today. He was also one of the founding partners of Treasure Valley Growers and Sales Packing shed when it operated in Nyssa, Ore. He was active in onion and mint associations, and in 2005 received the Lifetime Hall of Fame Award from the Idaho Mint Association. Art is survived by his wife Suye and three children, Carol (George) McClelland of Fruitland, Idaho; Alice (Peter) Mashimo of Kaneohe, Hawaii; Henry (Cathy) Hamanishi of Caldwell, Idaho; two sisters Ruth Fulton of Lakewood, Wash.; Fuase Nakamura of Seattle, Wash.; one brother Tom Hamanishi of Seattle, Wash.; six grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. Visitation will be held Friday, Oct. 5, 2007 from 6 - 8 p.m. at the Ontario Lienkaemper Chapel. Funeral Services will be conducted Saturday, Oct. 6, 2007 at 10 a.m. Community United Methodist Church in Ontario, Ore. Interment will follow at the Evergreen Cemetery. Condolences may be sent to the family at www. lienkaemperchapels.com.