Sakae "Curly" Ishizu

“Curly” passed away on Oct. 16th at home at the age of 98.  Born in Cressey, CA to Yonezo and Fuji Ishizu.  He graduated from Livingston High School in 1939.  He leaves behind his wife Marian; sons, Wes (Denise), Ken (Patricia), and Chris (Donna); grandchildren, Christina Bolzman (Nicholas), Alyssa Ishizu, Capt. Mark Ishizu, Steven Ishizu (Averi), Megan Ishizu, Natalie Steingruber (Kaden), Brandon Ishizu, and Ryan Ishizu; three great-grandchildren, Luthien, Scipio and Everly; sisters-in-law, Alyce Sugiyama and Yoshiko Yamasaki; and numerous nieces and nephews.  He was preceded in death by his parents; sisters Amy and Grace; and son David.

He was a member of the Sonoma County JACL and Enmanji Buddhist Church.

Curly originally was a rancher, raising table grapes and almonds in the Livingston-Merced area.  Then the family was relocated to Amache, Colorado during the war.  During this time, he also received a draft notice, and he went into the Army Air Corp., and headed over to Europe.  This is where he started his automotive career.  He worked on Jeeps and Dodge trucks.  When he left the service in March of 1946, he had a Harley motorcycle which he rode across the country back home to Orosi, CA.  Soon after returning to the Central Valley, he and his father decided to move to Petaluma to get into the egg business.  After a while, he bought the property on Marshall Avenue, where he resided for the next 73 years.  He eventually got out of the egg business and became a mechanic for Albers Feed Mill and the County of Sonoma.  He retired in 1983.

Memorial services will be held on Saturday, November 16, 2019 at 2:00 pm at the Enmanji Buddhist Church, 1200 Gravenstein Hwy., South, Sebastopol.  Friends and family are invited to attend.