Marjorie Toshiko Matsumoto ‘Yoshida’
Jan. 22, 1923 - Feb. 18, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009 10:41 AM PST
Ontario
Marjorie Toshiko “Yoshida” Matsumoto, 86, Ontario, passed away Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2009, in Ontario. Memorial services will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2009, at Shaffer-Jensen Memory Chapel, Payette. Private family committal services will be held. Services are under the direction of Shaffer-Jensen Memory Chapel, Payette. Condolences may be made to the family at
www.shaffer-jensenchapel.com.
Marjorie was born in Los Angeles on Jan. 22, 1923, to Fujiye (Kubota) and Tomotsu Yoshida. She was raised in Gardena, Calif., where her parents owned and operated a produce store. “Toe” was the middle of five children. She had two older brothers, Sho and Hiro, and two younger sisters, Yak and Fumi.
Toe graduated high school in Compton, Calif. During the war, her family was relocated to Denver, where she worked in an egg processing plant. This is where she met Toby Matsumoto. They were married three years later. Following the war, they moved to Brogan, Ore., where Toby worked on a farm. After the births of their daughter, Susan, and son, Nolan, the family moved to the Oregon Slope where they continued to farm.
They later moved to town where Toe worked in a bakery and Ore-Ida Foods before she was employed with Petrolane Gas Company. She later worked for Roy and Owen’s Tire Company and eventually for Malheur Bell.
In 1979, Toby passed away; they were married for 33 years. Three years later, Toe transferred with the phone company to Phoenix. She returned to Ontario in 2000, following her retirement from the phone company and experiencing a small stroke. She was active in the community and served on the Board of Directors with the Alcohol Recovery Center. However, she continued to have a series of strokes, which finally resulted in requiring her to go to an assisted living home. Toe lived with Glenda Villastrigo and her family from 2003 until her death. Living with Glenda was a blessing…Toe was welcomed into this household and quickly became a member of this large family. She was especially attached to Glenda’s granddaughter, Bailey, who was only a few weeks old when she arrived into the household. As a part of this family, Toe was able to go fishing, camping, hunting and on vacations to the coast. Glenda’s husband, Bill, treated Toe as a “fellow cattle-truck driver.” They spent many hours watching WWF and westerns on the family TV. She was active and busy, frequently not having much time to spend with her regular family. But in spite of Toe’s heavy social calendar in assisted living, Glenda always made sure Toe was able to attend family gatherings and special events with the Murata family and in the community. Toe was blessed to have “two” families who included her in all their celebrations.
Toe was a collector of crafts and sentimental cards, notes, pictures…you name it. These things surrounded her space and gave her comfort and familiarity throughout those final days. She loved watching the “Food Channel” and craved unusual foods…some that she’d never experienced and the ones that she did experience were usually not at the most convenient time of the day or night. She loved company and kept busy with her beading, tatting and playing with Bailey. Bailey kept her young at heart and always looking forward to the next thing. During the last week of her life, she was looking ahead and chose to be baptized…a day prior to leaving us.
Toe was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, Toby, and older brother, Sho.
Survivors include a brother, Hiro Yoshida, of San Gabriel, Calif.; sisters, Yasuko Anderson, of Huntington Beach, Calif., and Fumiko Uyeda, of Ontario, Calif.; daughter, Susan Matsumoto, of Tucson, Ariz.; son, Nolan (Julie) Matsumoto, of Ontario; two grandchildren, Jennifer, of Portland, and Nicholas, of Boise. Toe was also gifted with 18 nieces and nephews and 17 great-nieces and -nephews.
