George Fujimoto

George Fujimoto was born to Toshiye and Ryosaku Fujimoto in Orosi, California, on October 25, 1926. Dad had five siblings - Kay, Fumi, Opal, Hiro, and Ben. Dad was a quiet, practical, and very wise person who some of us called "Yoda" to each other. Even as a child, Dad was known as the quiet one. Many, many years later one of his friends told me, "George doesn't say much, but when he does, it is worth listening."

Dad's parents were tenant farmers in Fowler, CA. The family of eight lived in a two-room house with an outhouse in the yard. They had two farm horses, Molly and Dolly, and a dog named Poochie.

When Dad was in high school, World War II began. He was told by someone in authority at his school that he must watch the sky for enemy airplanes at home. So he did, until the federal government ordered the evacuation of Japanese-Americans from the West Coast. Dad and his family were incarcerated at Gila River in Arizona during the War.

Dad picked up his cooking skills while serving in the US Army in occupied Korea, where he was a driver and cook for the Colonel. The Colonel picked Dad for the job because he spoke Japanese, which many people in Korea spoke at the time. The Colonel's wife once asked Dad to make deviled eggs. He had never heard of deviled eggs, so he looked it up and made them.

Dad married Elizabeth Kitagawa in 1954, and they raised two children, Leah and Dale, in Hopkins, MN. Dad spent his working years on the road as a chick sexer. Always an eyebrow-raiser when his work came up in conversation; we are talking POULTRY! During the offseason, he was a car mechanic at the Lake Street Sears garage in Minneapolis. Our practical Dad finished the basement, built a bedroom closet for Dale, and read up on retirement savings.

At the age of 62, Dad retired, bought himself some cookbooks, dusted off his cooking skills, and made healthy and delicious dinners every night for himself and Mom. He also enjoyed golf, fishing, cars, doing jigsaw puzzles on the computer, and vacationing in Arkansas with Mom.

After a serious bout of pneumonia in 2017, Dad decided it was time for them to move to Fargo to be near family. Dad enjoyed life at Bethany on 42nd even as he was taking on more and more responsibility caring for Mom. One evening when it was almost time for them to go down to dinner, Mom asked Dad in a sweet little voice, "Is it our time to go yet?" Dad replied, "Not yet, pretty soon."

Dad, our Wise Old Owl, passed away peacefully on April 21, 2023.