Obit of Kikuchi, Joyce - Caddo County, Oklahoma Submitted by: Gene Phillips 04 Feb 2007 Return to Caddo County Archives: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/caddo/caddo.html ===================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ===================================================================== ::Pleasant Hills Memorial Park--Sebastopol CA Santa Rosa Press Democrat Published on May 9, 2005 Joyce Laverne Kikuchi was the beloved matriarch of a Sebastopol apple-growing family and later, when the packing industry declined, found a new career in caregiving that led her to travel the world. Kikuchi, a great-grandmother, died of lung cancer Wednesday at her Sebastopol home. She was 70. She was born during the Depression in Binger, Okla., the eldest of Lee and Ruth Clagg's five children. During her youth, she relocated with her parents and four brothers to California and attended Sebastopol schools in her adolescence. She initially worked as a waitress in several local restaurants, and at age 18 met Navy man Neil Thorp, her first husband and father of her first son. Waiting tables at the Dug Out, she met her second husband, Albert Papera, a musician at the Sebastopol restaurant/bar. Together, they had three children. At Sebastopol's Golden Dragon restaurant, she met George Kikuchi, with whom she would help run the family business Kikuchi Farms Inc. They married in 1959. George Kikuchi died in December 2003. During work parties on the apple farm, Kikuchi prepared large batches of her signature dish, biscuits and gravy. She passed on her culinary skills to her children and worried about their welfare even while she was suffering through terminal illness, youngest son Kerry Kikuchi of Windsor recalled. "She was always making sure I was safe -- a true mother," said Kerry Kikuchi, a volunteer firefighter and PG&E equipment operator. "She was strong-willed and ... an incredible lady." Kikuchi later gravitated into the job of in-home caregiver, and accompanied one of the women she looked after, the late Mary Ellen Edwards, on cruises to Alaska, Hawaii, the Mediterranean and Asia. Her other joys included fishing at the Westside Marina pier or in Clear Lake, crocheting and gardening. In addition to son Kerry Kikuchi, she is survived by son Jim Thorp of Sebastopol; son Mike Papera of Upper Lake; daughter Linda Witter of Sebastopol; and daughter Brenda Winkle of Columbus, Ohio. Ten of her 11 grandchildren also survive her, along with four great- grandchildren. A viewing will be Friday from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Pleasant Hills Memorial Park and Mortuary in Sebastopol, followed by a 10:30 a.m. memorial service there Saturday. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to Caddo County Archives: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/caddo/caddo.html