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In memory of

Eiko Tajima Aoki

Coarsegold, CA

September 13, 1919 - February 10, 2019

Sep 13, 1919 - Feb 10, 2019

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Eiko “Ruby” Tajima Aoki, 99, of Coarsegold, CA, passed away peacefully due to natural causes on February 10, 2019.

Eiko was born on September 13, 1919 to Masumi and Tamayo Tajima in Los Angeles, CA. After high school in Los Angeles, she studied at Keisen Jogaku-en (now Keisen University), a Christian school for women in Tokyo.

After her return to the U.S., Eiko and her family were interned at the Gila River War Relocation Center. From there, she volunteered to teach Japanese language classes to Army officers on the campus of the University of Chicago. There Eiko met her husband-to-be, Mitsuo Aoki, who was enrolled at Chicago Theological Seminary.

The newlyweds relocated to Pu’unene on the island of Maui in the Territory of Hawaii, where Eiko supported Mitsuo’s ministry while raising the children. Over the years that followed, in New York City then Elmira, NY then back to Honolulu, HI, she maintained her interest in Japanese culture and arts, especially Ikebana (both classic and modern). She collected sea shells and Japanese ceramics, as well as beads and silk fabrics. She had a creative flair for fashion and floral design.

Eiko was an early disciple of Adelle Davis and ate healthy before it became mainstream.

Eiko is predeceased by her siblings Chiye and George, and her husband, Mitsuo. She is survived by her three children, Galen (Lydia), Sophie Ann and April, and her two granddaughters, Elsa (Timothy) Rose and Suzanne (Brian) Ronan, and her three great-granddaughters, Kaiya, Nadia, and Hana Rose.

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