Obituary

MIKIKO MURATA, née Hayashida (born November 30, 1915, Berkeley, California, died August 30, 2015, Chicago, Illinois), the second of twelve children born to Suezo Hayashida and Kikuyo Kozaki. During World War II the entire family was interned in Topaz, Utah (http://www.topazmuseum.org/), where she served as a nurse’s aide and in April of 1945 married Yoshinori Murata (1913–2005).

They settled in Chicago where their children Margaret, Robert and Rex were all born and raised. When they were past elementary school, she held a few long-term, part-time jobs, including several years in physician’s offices, and continued her creative interests in sewing, houseplants, cooking, and following the Chicago Cubs.

For the past nine years she had been a resident at Norwood Crossing, an assisted living and nursing care facility in Chicago.

Mikiko is survived by her younger sisters Mary Miyake and Fusaye Iyeki, of Sacramento and Vacaville, CA and her brother Dr. Michihiko Hayashida of Honolulu, Hawai’i; her three children of Irvine, CA, Chicago and Wauconda, IL; grandchildren Robert Murata, Nicole Santino, Rick Romolo, Sarah and Lisa Murata; Kevin Murata and Kayla Zasadowski; great-grandchildren Taylor, Ashton, Alyssa, Ryan, Madison, and London; and a multitude of nieces and nephews.

Memorial Visitation, Thursday, September 3, 2015 3:30pm until time of service at 5:30pm at Lakeview Funeral Home.