Sayo Tanagi Kumasaka Harmeling

Sayo Tanagi Kumasaka HARMELING Passed away peacefully at age 90 on January 28, 2007 in her Woodinville home. Sayo was born in Sugar City, Idaho on August 10, 1916 to Miki and Kiichi Tanagi, the fifth of nine children. The family relocated to the Seattle area in 1929 and operated a truck farm on what is now University Village. Sayo graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1934, and married Akira Kumasaka in 1936. They along with two daughters and family were interned in the Puyallup and Minidoka relocation camps in 1942. A son was born in Rexburg, Idaho in 1944, and the family returned to Seattle in 1945. Sayo operated Green Lake Gardens, their truck farm and greenhouses, after the sudden death of her husband in February, 1952. Their youngest son was born in July, 1952. Sayo's success as a plant and flower grower earned her the nickname, "The Plant Lady". She gave speeches, conducted tours, was featured in numerous articles such as Sunset magazine and was an active member of the Greenhouse Management Institute, Puget Sound Flower Growers, Bedding Plants International, and a board member of Allied Florists of Greater Seattle. In 1963, Sayo married Sheldon Harmeling, a horticulturist who had for many years provided technical expertise on plant production for the greenhouse operation. She was forced to close Green Lake Gardens in 1968 for construction of the new Seattle Community College, North Campus. Sayo relocated to Bothell and briefly retired before going to work as a senior horticulturist at Molbaks in Woodinville, a job she loved constantly until her 2001 retirement at age 85. In the latter 1980s, Sayo and Sheldon began collecting Noritake specialty china and had since attained star status in the world of Noritake collectables. The 2006 International Noritake Convention in Seattle featured a tour of their collection shortly before her 90th birthday. Also not to be overlooked was her lifelong interest in local sports teams and her unflagging passion for the Seattle Mariners. Her surviving family include her husband, Sheldon, her sons, Stuart and Akira Gary Kumasaka, daughters, Bea Kumasaka and Noreen Burr, brother, Rick Tanagi, cousins, Sharon Aburano, Shig Tanagi and Rose Okazaki, nine grandchildren, ten great-grandchildren, and an enormous circle of extended family and friends. She was a remarkable woman who gave love to all of us and will be dearly missed. The Memorial Service and Reception will be held at 1:00 p.m. February 24, 2007 at Blaine Memorial United Methodist Church, 3001 24th Avenue South, Seattle, WA 98144.