|
Stewart E. Morimoto, 46, passed away peacefully Friday, Nov. 30, 2007 in Colusa, CA. Memorial and burial services were held in California, with a Celebration of Remembrance held in Scottsbluff, NE on Saturday, Dec. 29, 2007.
Stewart was born Jan. 15, 1961 in San Jose, CA. He attended grade school in California and Michell Valley rural schools and he graduated from Mitchell High School with the class of 1979. Immediately after graduation he started farming with his father and brother.
In February 1991, Stewart left for California and found his first job with Sakata Seed Company in Morgan Hill, CA where he was currently employed for 16 years.
Stewart will always be remembered as an outgoing and loyal individual who met many friends through farming, bowling, golfing and his work at Sakata Seed Company and CostCo.
Survivors include his parents, Gene and Alyce Morimoto of Mitchell; brother, Ronnie and Alice Morimoto of Woodland, CA; sister, Stacy and Norman Kaneshiro of Santa Clara, CA; special nephew, Kiel Kaneshiro; special niece, Kayla Kaneshiro and numerous aunts, uncles, and cousins.
|
Kendall Busch
I SHARED THIS AT STEWART'S REMEMBRANCE SERVICE:I can still remember the first day Stewart walked into the classroom of Mitchell Valley. He had this lost look on his face, but within a short time Jerry Stricker and myself befriended Stewart and knew that he would be a friend for life. We spent time playing at each others house riding motorcycles and just hanging out. The three of us played grade school basketball, ran track and graduated the 8th grade from Mitchell Valley together.
Entering Mitchell High school I didn’t share all of my classes with Stewart but we would always talk between classes or after school. While I stayed with playing basketball in high school, Stewart chose to take up wrestling. We would tease each other after practices. I would say to him “I suppose you want to hold me now” and Stewart would reply “I suppose you want to slap me on the butt now”. Anyone that was lucky enough to get to know Stewart in high school knew how honest, caring and non-judgmental he was. He was voted as class shiest, but Stewart did not have to speak many words to show how unique of a person he was.
After high school Stewart and myself both went into farming, so my friend was still nearby whether it was passing him on a county road or seeing the smoke from his tractor off in a distant field. We spent countless hours just talking about our day and how the crops were doing. One night Stewart and myself were heading home from Scottsbluff. The roads were icy and we were half way up Hubbards Hill when Stewart’s pickup suddenly did a couple of 360’s and ended up with us facing East. I remember looking across to Stewart, with his hands still clenched to the steering wheel, and him looking back at me. Then he said “whoa, I didn’t mean to do that”. I replied back “I didn’t think so”. We both then just started laughing.
Stewart was there beside me the day I got married as one of my groomsmen. Two years later, when he decided to move to California it was painful. My friend would no longer be right down the road from me. But our friendship remained strong. We would talk on the phone to each other at least every other month if not more. We would talk about his job, farming, and Nebraska football. But most importantly, Stewart always asked how my family was doing. I always looked forward to Christmas because I knew Stewart would be coming home. He would always stop by my house to see how my kids were doing and they came to know him as “Uncle Stewie”. Each time Stewart was home he would also make a point of trying to see as many of his fellow classmates as possible. We would get a group of us together and share old times.
All of my memories of Stewart will always be cherished. Thank you, Stewart for being my friend!