Kelly Teruko Okazaki Yamane

1961 - 2021

Kelly Teruko Okazaki Yamane
Kelly Teruko Okazaki Yamane passed away on April 7th, 2021, at the age of 59 after a heroic five year battle with cancer. Kelly was born on May 19th, 1961 in Lodi, California to Henry and Haru Okazaki. She was the first in her family to go to college, earning a bachelor's degree in Economics from UC Davis and an MBA from the University of San Francisco. Kelly began a career in finance with PG&E, and moved from Davis to San Francisco to Salinas before marrying her long-time boyfriend, Chris Yamane in 1990. In 1995, they had their first daughter, Emily, and moved to Lodi to settle down closer to family before Erica was born in 1997.
Kelly was always devoted to her family. While the girls were growing up, Kelly worked part-time so she could volunteer in their classrooms, chaperone field trips, and chauffeur them to after-school activities. She never missed a swim meet, basketball game, piano or dance recital. The family enjoyed many summers vacationing in Hawaii and frequent weekend trips to Carmel and San Francisco. When Chris was diagnosed with cancer in 2012, life shifted for the Yamane family and Kelly became Chris' main caretaker while working full-time and continuing to raise their high school aged daughters. In 2016, only two years after Chris' passing, Kelly was diagnosed with cancer and aggressively received treatment throughout the last five years. Amidst her grief and treatment, Kelly found immense joy in her new nephew Colton, born in 2012. They spent much of their time playing Legos, visiting the World of Wonders museum, shopping trips to Target and lunch at McDonald's. Additionally, Kelly became a Warrior's basketball superfan and attended several playoff games with her younger brother, Corey. More recently, her day to day involved a lot of gardening, bird-watching, baking and puzzles and she loved taking daily walks with her neighbors. In the last few years, Kelly enjoyed both domestic and international trips with Emily, Erica and the cousins, with memories in Vancouver, Paris and Little Rock, Arkansas, as well as weekend trips in between. Kelly's life, though tainted with tragedies, was lived to the fullest up until the end. She will be greatly missed by everyone who knew her.
Kelly was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Chris Yamane; her step-father, Sus Onishi; father-in-law, Bennie Yamane. She is survived by her daughters, Emily and Erica; brother, Corey (Lisa); nephew, Colton; mother-in-law, Carol Yamane; sister-in-law, Sandra Yamane (late husband John Reardon); brother-in-law, Steve Yamane; and numerous cousins.
The family is so grateful to Kelly's incredible team of doctors at Stanford and UC Davis, as well as her Lodi Oncology nurse Carolyn Fuller. In lieu of flowers or koden, the family would like you to consider a donation in Kelly's name to UC Davis Medical Center, the Buddhist Church of Lodi, or Fred Finch Youth & Family Services, Avalon Program in Oakland (Erica's workplace). The family will hold a joint memorial service for Kelly and her mother Haru sometime later this year.