Setsuko Betty Harada passed away peacefully on August 25, 2024, in Simi Valley, California. She was born on July 13, 1925, in Los Angeles, California, and grew up in the Boyle Heights area of LA.
After the 1942 WWII Internment Order, she and her family were interned at the Santa Anita racetrack and later were moved to the Rohwer Arkansas Internment Camp. While at the Rohwer Internment Camp, she worked as a clerk in the camp store and obtained her high school diploma. When she obtained a pass to leave camp, she found work in Minnesota at a toy factory, in Chicago Illinois as a maid, and as a drugstore clerk in Denver, Colorado.
She left Denver to work in the agricultural fields near Fresno, California and at an LA zipper factory. Her future husband, Shige, followed her from Denver to California and they were married in 1947 in Los Angeles. She and Shige left California to make a new life back in Colorado where they joined her husband’s family in building a family business known as “Harada Farms” in Rocky Ford, Colorado. The family farm was known for growing sweet Rocky Ford cantaloupe and watermelons as well as other produce. In the early seventies, she moved back to the Los Angeles area where she worked as a clerk for Jonson’s grocery chain until her retirement.
Baseball was a sport she enjoyed. She played various positions during her school years, while interned at Rohwer, and in Denver. She loved bowling and won many tournaments locally and nationally. She was active in the Simi Valley Senior Center and thoroughly enjoyed the Senior Olympic Games. She loved being a “torch bearer” for these games and was very proud of the many medals she won during these yearly Olympic games.
She is survived by her daughters Sandy (Woody) Horton, Cindy (Mike) Grooms, and Gail (Martin) Chester; grandchildren Tanya Horton, Mikki (Michael) Davis, Amanda (Eric) Hsu, Curt (Tairn) Grooms; great-grandchildren Sean (Amanda) and Alyson Davis, Owen and Ethan Hsu; great-great grandchildren Lilly and Graelin Davis. She was preceded in death by her husband of 63 years. She will be deeply missed.
Funeral services will be held at the San Fernando Valley Hongwanji Buddhist Temple, 9450 Remick Ave, Pacoima, CA at 12:30 PM on October 13, 2024. A reception will follow.
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Author: wpeditor
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