Alice Sumida

Alice Sumida Obituary

Alice Sumida passed away peacefully with her family by her side after a brief final bout with cancer, at 95 years old.

Alice was the eldest child of Kusuno Kahara and Tomihei Kawasaki who emigrated to Portland from Japan.

She graduated from Washington High School in 1941. She was the first in her family to go to college, starting at the U of O in the fall of that year.

Her life was immediately altered when 3 months later, Pearl Harbor was bombed.
President Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066, forced the evacuation of people of Japanese ancestry into internment camps. Families were temporarily lodged at the Portland International Livestock Exposition Center, now the Expo Center. Later they were held at Minidoka Internment Camp in Idaho.

Alice managed to leave camp with the assistance of Friends of Quakers, finding work in Chicago as a caregiver/companion to an elderly lady. She applied to many nursing schools, finally being accepted into a nurse training program in Batavia, NY and training at Genesee Hospital in Rochester, NY, graduating in 1947.

Upon graduation she returned to Portland and began her many decades of work with Providence Hospital, at the time a small brick building. In 1949, she married Nobuyuki “Nobi” Sumida, raised 4 children, and immersed herself in her various communities.

She participated in PTA, (holding all positions a number of times) Cub Scouts, holding meetings in the basement as troop Den Mother, and Girl Scouts.
Professionally she was an active member of EDNA, the Emergency Department Nurses Association.

In 1978 she was honored as Oregon’s Emergency Department Nurse of the Year, with the Michael Turman Award, a memorial to a Kaiser Permanente physician’s assistant who assisted in training Portland area ER nurses.

Over the years she had worked in a number of departments at Providence, but found her true calling with a group of passionate and supportive doctors and nurses in the ER. They worked together for many years and this was her heart and soul. She found deep reward and purpose in helping patients, mentoring young nurses and resident physicians.

In 1976, she earned her BA at Linfield College, studying evenings and weekends during her “free time.”

In 2007, she went to Salem to participate in Governor Ted Kulongoski’s signing of Oregon House Bill 2823, which allowed state colleges and universities to award honorary and post-secondary degrees to Japanese Americans that were ordered to internment camps and unable to complete and obtain their degrees. She treasured the framed photo of her with the governor and the signing pen.
But she was most proud of accepting her honorary degree from the U of O the following year from University President Dave Frohnmayer.

Alice faced several types of cancer during these years. Through it all and to the end, she lived her life and faced this disease with quiet strength, dignity, gratitude and hope.

Alice was preceded in death by her loving husband Nobi, her younger sisters, Sue Fujino and Margie Ogawa.

She is survived by her four children, Steve (Linda), Russ (Brenda), John (Liz), Susan Boulot (Philippe) and grandchildren Rachel and Kelby Fuji, Michelle, Debby, Camron, Francois and Chloe Boulot and great-granddaughter Evie, whom she called “the cutest baby ever”.

The Sumida family thanks Rose Schnitzer Manor for welcoming and caring for our mother. We’re especially grateful to her “special friend” and final caregiver Claudia Mendez.

A celebration of her life will be held Sunday, May 27 at Woodstock Wine and Deli at 2pm.

Donations can be made in her memory to the Oregon Nikkei Endowment.

Celebration of Life

2:00 PM ,Sunday, May 27, 2018
Woodstock Wine and Deli

Services

You can still show your support by sending flowers directly to the family, or by planting a memorial tree in the memory of Alice Sumida

Plant a tree in memory of Alice

4 replies on “Alice Sumida”

We were so sorry to hear of Alice’s passing. She was such a warm, loving, beautiful person. Our family loved being longtime neighbors and friends with Nobi, Alice and your family. She holds a very special place in our hearts. We feel like she saved our daughter, Tara’s life when she was 18 months old. Mom was babysitting her and asked Alice to check Tara when she seemed lethargic. Alice took charge and they all rushed her to the hospital. She was soon close to death. If it weren’t for Alice’s expertise, we would have lost her. She was very special in many ways and we hope that you will forever find solace in all of your wonderful memories and her legacy.

I met Alice Sumida at the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center, a Japanese American History Museum, where she volunteered as a docent. She conducted tours for school groups and talked about what Portland’s Japantown was like and shared her personal experiences in the American concentration camp during WWII. She was a great volunteer whose stories I enjoyed and appreciated.

Alice was a wonderful volunteer at Richmond Japanese Language Magnet Program, Portland Public School. In my 3rd grade class, she helped the students to learn Japanese language and culture. She was very patient , caring and always with a smile.
Thank you Alice Sensei

My aunt Alice was an inspiration to me with her kindness, congeniality and respect for others. I loved hearing her stories of my mothers family before and after WWII. When my mother became ill, she flew to California and stayed with her for weeks. She helped me understand my families culture and heritage. My condolences to the Sumida Family.