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Lithia Park Lantern in memory of Chiyemi Doyle

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On June 19, 1945 in the waning days of World War II a baby girl was born to Ben and MIchiko Katsuyoshi. The place of birth was behind an encircling barbed wire fence and armed guard towers at Tule Lake Relocation Center. Along with 120,000 other Japanese Americans, my wife was born in eerie echoes of another fence along the southern border of the United States today.

She was a beautiful child and grew into a beautiful woman who came to live in Ashland in 1990 along with her new family, son Chris and me, her husband. She died March 6, 2018 in the University of California Medical Center in San Francisco of “complications”.

As a flower arranger and keen mah-jongg player she honored her Asian heritage. Those who knew her were happy to have been a part of her life. On her birthday last year, in Cotton Memorial picnic area in Lithia Park a memorial celebration was held and today, I am seeking to honor her memory and that of her fellow 120,000 internees by placing a Japanese lantern in the park, across from the tennis courts.

The chosen location is perfect for a Japanese lantern and appropriate as an unmarked memorial to Chiyemi.  The artist, Wataru Sugiyama, SOU graduate, Japanese green card holder, and 30 year friend of my wife seems perfect to me. His artistic credentials are impeccable. The designs and reasoning for the location along the path into the Ashland Japanese garden was presented to the Ashland Parks and Rec Commission in February where they received my presentation favorably.

We are raising funds to commission, oversee and dedicate a Tōrō or stone lantern near the Lithia Park Japanese garden. The family will oversee the funds with any excess to be donated to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
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Donations 

  • John Doyle
    • $100
    • 5 yrs
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Organizer

Chris Doyle
Organizer
Belmont, CA

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