Yuriko Uno "Lily" Kaku

1923 - 2023

Lindsay's honorary sister city ambassador Yuriko "Lily" Uno Kaku passed away on Sept. 14, 2023, just a few months after celebrating her 100th birthday surrounded by family on May 13, 2023. She was a longtime resident of Lindsay, Calif., and was celebrated as the city's "Honored Person" for the 2005 Orange Blossom Festival because of her decades of service to the Lindsay community, particularly the city's foreign exchange program with Ono, Japan.

She was born May 13, 1923 in Oakland, Calif., one of six children of Miyuki and Masamichi Uno, who had immigrated from Kanazawa, Japan. She lived in Alameda, Calif. until she was 10, when her mother took the children back to Japan. Her father planned to join them, but died of cancer on board a ship the night before it reached Yokahama, Japan.

Lily helped her mother raise her siblings, including an ill sister. The family lived in Tokyo during the painful years of World War II. Following the war, she entered the workforce, finding her place at a manufacturing firm as the only female accountant/bookkeeper for 17 years. Money management became her expertise, not only professionally, but as treasurer and auditor for many organizations over the years.

After her mother passed away in 1961, she returned to California and worked at Sumitomo Bank in San Francisco, while living with her cousin Edison Uno and his family. Edison is remembered as one of the architects of reparations for Japanese-Americans held in incarceration camps during the war.

Lily married Chorge Kaku in 1963, after being introduced to him through the Buddhist church. Lily's relatives worried that the city girl wouldn't be happy in rural Lindsay, but the friendly town won her over. She helped run the family grocery store, Save Center Market, until 1985, putting her accounting skills to work.

Lily became involved with the Lindsay Hospital Guild, Woman's Club, and American Legion Auxiliary, where she put her treasury skills to work. She also made hand-made crafts to decorate for events and sell at fundraisers. She was skilled at crochet, woodworking, paper crafts, and sewing. She also taught Japanese cooking and sang with the Visalia karaoke club and in the Sierra Melodies chapter in Porterville and was voted "Sweet Adeline of the Year." She taught Japanese cooking and Mah Jong well into her 80s.

But it was Lindsay's Sister City Program with Ono City, Japan, that established her as a Lindsay icon. Her work helped hundreds of Lindsay students experience an exchange program in Japan, and delegates from Ono City to come to the Central Valley. She organized teriyaki chicken fundraising dinners that served thousands of meals and became a Lindsay tradition. She also drove Japanese guests hundreds of miles, showing them Yosemite, Sequoia, and other national parks, as well as farms and local businesses. She was named "Ambassador Extraordinaire" at the 30th anniversary of the Lindsay Sister City Program.

"Lily" was beloved by many friends in California and Japan, and by her family. Her survivors include her step children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren, as well as many nieces, nephews and cousins. We will miss her vibrant, playful spirit and her zest for life.

In lieu of flowers, please send donations in Lily Kaku's memory to The Lindsay Sister City Program, a 501 (c)(3) tax exempt organization, at PO Box 131, Lindsay, CA 93247.