Marion Chizu Tomita was born on February 11, 1924 in Seattle, Washington to Heitaro and Shizuko Tomita, immigrants from Kanagawa,Japan.While attending Washington State University, college life was interrupted by the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The Tomitas were sent to Minidoka War Relocation Center in Idaho. Quaker sponsorship allowed the family to leave Minidoka and resettle in Philadelphia, PA.
Marion worked as an Administrative Assistant at Women's Hospital in Philadelphia, the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission in Washington, D.C., then the U.S. Army at the U.S. Army Hospital No. 155 in Yokohama, Japan. There she met a handsome U.S. soldier named Fred Jiro Shimomura, a member of the 442nd Infantry Regiment. They married in San Francisco in 1952.
After Jiro's discharge, the couple settled in Philadelphia where he earned a teaching degree from Temple University. The couple returned to Hawaii where Jiro became a popular teacher, football and basketball coach, and later a principal. Marion earned her accreditation as a medical librarian and spent her entire career in Hawaii at Tripler Army Medical Center.
Marion's cheerful disposition endeared her to everyone she met.
Marion and Jiro were long-time residents of Arcadia. The family of Richard and Regina Shimomura wishes to thank the staff and doctors of Arcadia, whose loving care for Marion and Jiro through the years is greatly appreciated.
