June Yoshitake Passes

June Asako Yoshitake passed away Friday night. She was the wife and partner of George Yoshitake of Lompoc. She was 76. The two had been married for 53 years. It was George who first suggested that the topic of the Nikkei community in Lompoc be examined. He then helped research Vanished: Lompoc’s Japanese, and to publicize it.  

June’s memorial service today in Montebello confirmed what we all knew: June was gracious and stylish yet unpretentious, a “tidiness freak” as her brother Harvey said, but a caring one. She had a gift in her ability to connect with people.

June was born in Kingsburg, CA in 1934. She grew up in Dinuba, the second of four children of Harvey and Akiko Iwata. Her father was a semi-pro baseball player and farmer. June’s softball skills would later make him proud.

The family was incarcerated at Poston in 1942. June was seven. Their next stop was Cleveland, then when the war ended, Arlington, Virginia, where June graduated high school. She had wanted to become a flight attendant, but she was rejected for being too short. She went to work at a credit company, but found it stressful. She did not like turning down applicants, said her sister Shirley.

June met George at a JACL dance in 1955.  They married in 1957 and moved to California. They moved north from Montebello to Lompoc in 1966.

June gave birth to three children: Steve, Dawn and Glen. She worked as a teacher’s aide in Special Education for fifteen years. Next to her family, her church, Valley of the Flowers United Church of Christ in Lompoc, was her top priority. She also volunteered for years with Lompoc Hospice.  

George went to the podium during today’s service to speak of June. He mentioned her unconditional love and her total support for him.

Nobody ever disliked June. As one of her church friends said, “She was a wonderful woman.”

June also had a second connection to our book. The cover photo is of a parade celebrating donation of an altar to the Buddhist Temple in Guadalupe in 1933. The donor was June's grandfather.