Suye "Sue" Hamanishi

Suye (Sue) Hamanishi Suye (Sue) Hamanishi, 89, of Ontario, Ore. passed away Jan. 31, 2008 at her `home. Visitation will be held Sunday, Feb. 10, 2008 from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Ontario Lienkaemper Chapel. Funeral Services will be conducted Monday, Feb. 11, 2008 at 11 a.m. at the Community United Methodist Church, Ontario, Ore. Vault interment following Evergreen Cemetery. Sue was born on March 13, 1918 to Gensaburo and Kameno Ikeda in Loma, Colo., and passed away on Jan.31, 2008, in Ontario, Ore. She was one of eight children. Sue lived most of her youth on a farmstead in Knox, Ind. helping with the family farm. After graduation from Knox High School, she attended business school in Chicago, eventually working for the Japanese Consulate office in the city. At the outbreak of W. W. II and the attack on Pearl Harbor, she was immediately taken back to the farm in Indiana. Sue met her future husband, Art, at her family farm in Indiana during the early war years where Art worked. When he proposed marriage to Sue, 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-1940s, 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 Sue's daughter and son-in-law, and grandson, with his wife, operating the farm. Besides Sue's participation in a successful farm operation, specifically operating the farm bookkeeping, she was a wonderful and loving homemaker for her three children and received great joy growing her flower and vegetable gardens. Art and Sue were married for over 60 years. Art just preceded Sue in death this last Sept. Sue is survived by her three children, Carol McClelland (and her husband George) of Fruitland, Idaho, Alice Mashimo (and her husband, Peter) of Kaneohe, Hawaii and Henry Hamanishi (and his wife, Cathy) of Caldwell, Idaho, one sister, Chiyo Shigeno of Ontario, Ore. There are six grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. Memorials can be made to the Community United Methodist Church in her memory. Condolences can be sent to the family at www.lienkaemper-thomason.com.