Mitsu Ann Ogami
Chapter 1
(Coming to America)
Mitsu Ann Ogami (Toyoda) was born on Feb. 9, 1929, in Nagano Prefecture, Japan.
During the war years, she often recalled the need to be frugal. Food, clothing, and all consumer products were difficult to obtain.
During the occupation years, the Toyoda family hosted the Anderson family. Mr. Anderson was an executive of the American Red Cross. His daughter Shirley and Mitsu became best friends and often referred to each other as sisters.
Sally Roundy Kelley died on Dec. 28, 2020. She was born March 11, 1937 in Utah. She lived most of her adult life with her husband, Perry Kelley, in Weiser, Idaho.
On the last day of her mortal life we all knew she was dying. We were privileged with the gift of saying goodbye in person, holding hands, talking face to face. We also witnessed her goodbyes to other loved ones.
John Leonard Hatch was born June 26, 1945 in Weiser, Idaho, the youngest of 10 children of John Lawrence and Della Miller Hatch.
He graduated from Weiser High School where he was a member of the tennis team. Tennis was a life-long love of his, playing on competitive teams for most of his life.
He also loved hiking, camping and fishing in Idaho’s backcountry. There was no dirt mountain road too obscure to explore.
He served in the U.S. Army 167th Signal Corps in Vietnam, receiving an honorable discharge in December 1967.
Marianne Kofoed Walker left a legacy of Christ-like love and service when she passed away on January 2, 2021, at age 76. She peacefully slipped into eternal glory after a lengthy battle with a rare form of blood cancer. Marianne was born on April 6, 1944, to Glenn and Verla Kofoed who lived in Lava Hot Springs, Idaho, at the time. As a child they moved to New Plymouth, Idaho, where she grew up with her eight siblings, whom she loved, and stayed connected with as she organized family gatherings and Sunday meals.
Sharilyn (Shari) Adkins of Weiser, Idaho and Wellton, Ariz., joined the angels on Friday, Nov. 27, 2020, surrounded by love.
Shari was born Sept. 11, 1946 in Southern California where she lived and met the love of her life Larry Adkins who she married on her birthday in 1967.
Marjorie Jean Brown Kerby was born March 21, 1929, the fourth of five children, to Vern and Jean Laird Brown.
She was born at home in Weiser during the year that the banks failed. It was a hard time to raise a family. She didn’t realize they were poor as everyone seemed to be in the same situation.
Marjorie’s childhood was wonderful, filled with 15 cousins as built-in playmates, not much money, and the knowledge she was her dad’s favorite!
She went to school at various places, graduating from Weiser High School in 1947.
Richard “Ross” Tarter passed away Nov. 18, 2020, at his home on Mann Creek after a short battle with cancer.
Ross was born Nov. 21, 1944 in Cambridge, Idaho to Elton and Louise Tarter.
The eldest of five children, he grew up on the family ranch on Mann Creek and worked on the family cow/calf operation until the age of 20.
Ross married Joyce McIntosh and they were parents to three children. They later divorced.
The Gem State has lost its brightest gem: James H. Davis, 86, of Weiser, Idaho, passed away suddenly Nov. 21, 2020, in his home, ten days after his 86th birthday. “It’s not the birthdays, but the number” that was the problem, he would joke.
Jim was born Nov. 11, 1934, in Weiser, Idaho, to Ed and Gertrude Davis.
As the youngest of three brothers during the Depression, he got to be the first to use the bath water on their farm on the Sunnyside area of Weiser. He walked everywhere and made a few dollars here and there gathering and selling asparagus and hunting.