Sugimoto, Kimie, born in Yokohama, Japan, the second oldest of seven children. At the beginning of the war, she and her siblings Hideaki, Katsuhiko, Akio, Noriko, Misaho and Takeshi moved to Fujieda (an hour from Mt. Fuji) where her mother’s family lived in Shizuoka Prefecture. Like most men during that time, her father stayed in the city to help with the war efforts. She and her siblings began working at a young age to support the family with Kimie taking the lead.

Kimie and her friend found jobs at the close by Omaezaki Air Base in Shizuoka. She also taught Sunday School at Kakegawa Catholic Church where our father Kermit Allen Jr. attended mass. According to her brother Takeshi, Kimie was known as the “top three most beautiful girls” in school and town, which caught the attention of our father Kermit Allen Jr. who attended Mass at the same church. Kimie and Kermit married at age 23 followed by several separations by the military demonstrating her strength and commitment to her family. This caused Kimie to again take on the role as the main caretaker for the family. Kimie went on to birth five children, Kermit (Vincent), Theresa, Mark, Ronald, and Karen. She was the caretaker of a special needs child for the many years of her life, caring for and loving our sister Karen who passed in 2003.

While caring for her children, Kimie obtained her United states Citizenship, became a Cub Scout leader, and obtained her driver’s license. Once her children entered the teenage years, she started working first at the base Youth Center and worked her way up to oversee catering and accounting at the Officers Club. In the later empty nest years, Kimie went on to take nutrition and Japanese cooking courses and opened a restaurant in Japan. She loved to cook, to eat, and share her recipes. She also loved to crochet and knit passing on all these skills to her daughter Theresa.

Kimie is survived by her sister Noriko and brother Takeshi, her daughter Theresa and sons Vincent, Mark and Ronald (daughter in law Jan and her daughters Dianne and Jackie), her grandchild Briana, nieces Yuko, and nephews Kazuya and Sachio. On our father’s side of the family, she is survived by her sisters in law Myrna, Carol, Anne, and brother-in-law Charles as well as numerous cousins in Hawaii, Japan and the east coast. Mom and our sister Karen were inseparable and today they will be again joined together.

She’s now in God’s embrace …