Mitsuko Takahashi Weaver

The long and winding roads of Mitsuko Takahashi Weaver
Born Oct 20, 1934, in Tokyo Japan, she was the 5th child out of 7. Her father was a ship boiler maker and was very talented at casting the giant steam boilers for ships and thus earned a better than fair living. Her mom was a rarity in Japan in her era having completed a high school education at the turn of the 20th century. Her mother was descended from a Samurai family of means from the 1800s and before.
She related many pre-war and wartime events that shaped her adult life and attitudes; perseverance, survival, stubbornness, and the will to succeed and make her own path.
Many close calls occurred in her young life. During the firebombing of Tokyo during WWII, she had been staying with another family. By chance she returned to her own family's home just in time to be saved from a fire that consumed the other family. Many other fires ensued, and she recounted her father on the roof of the family home spraying water and putting out fires to save it. Later, all the children were evacuated by their schools to the countryside where she endured separation from her parents. Her parents and older siblings would visit when they could and bring food and treats for the children that otherwise didn't have much to eat.
In high school, she sang in the chorus and was an avid swimmer on the swim team. She worked at the local fish market cleaning fish before school on most days.
Post war, she and her sister would go down the street to watch Douglas McArthur arriving at his office in a taxi. Somehow, she gravitated to Western culture, perhaps through going to the movies. She later worked as an office clerk and took classes on flower arranging and dress making.
Eventually she found herself at the US Air Force base and took a job as a cafeteria worker. This is where she met her future husband, Dave Weaver. She recounted that he was always hungry and would ask her for another scoop of whatever was on the menu, yet she always refused. Dave took a liking to her and also would ask her out along with the extra scoop of food and the answer to both was "no". Eventually she said yes.
Things moved along and with the blessing of only her father, Dave and Mitsuko were married. Enduring some angst amongst the family with the marriage to a Westerner in post war Japan, it was soon put aside as they realized that Dave was a great person, and another cultural bridge was formed.
The next 20 years of military life involved moves to Maine, Virginia, Japan again, Cape Cod, Washington state, Texas, North Carolina and back to her final home in Virginia where she live out her life for the next 50 years. She became a hairstylist and further let her creative side shine by learning to oil paint both landscapes and portraits. Later she learned to play the piano. Having the greenest of thumbs, she enjoyed gardening on her 5 acres with her husband. She also became a proud US citizen in 1969. No one ever left her house hungry as she was a tremendous cook and baker.
She overcame and lived with many health issues including a stroke and other maladies but this never slowed her down much and she never complained much about her physical limitations.
Her immense joy was her grandchildren, and they meant everything to her. She liked to brag about them with anyone that would listen. In her final years she had the rare opportunity to meet and hold her great grandchildren and she very much enjoyed viewing pictures of them.
Over the course of 90 years, she led a remarkable life and was privileged to journey to nearly all 50 states with occasional trips to Japan. We can unequivocally state her journey through life took her far and wide.
She is survived by her son Mark (Renee), two grandsons, Harris (Cary, NC), Kurt (Anna) (Smithfield, VA), and two great grandchildren, Hunter and Wyatt