On March 5, 2022, our beloved mother, Michi, graduated from this earthly school at the age of 89 and

moved forward to enter into her next adventure.

She will be remembered by many for her easy laugh, generous heart, and maybe most important, her love

of nourishing people through cooking, canning and baking. Did she bake you cookies because it was

your birthday? Did you come to visit her and leave with a jar of jam or canned peaches? Did you receive

a bowl of her famous fried rice because you plowed her driveway, cleaned her chimney, fixed her

plumbing or pruned her trees? Or maybe you were bold enough to ask her for a bowl of it? She loved it

when people requested a bowl of fried rice because it meant she could be of service to you. She may have

nourished you in other ways because at heart, she was a caregiver to us all.

Michiko was born in Odomari, Japan, in 1932. The exact date of her birth is a bit of a mystery, but her

parents "assigned" March 25, 1932, as her official birth date in order to meet the deadline for school

enrollment. She always said this was her parents' first attempt to get her out of the house as soon as

possible. By her own admission, she was precocious and outspoken as a child and a challenge to a more

compliant Japanese culture. After moving between Japan and China and surviving World War II, she

declared that one day she would leave Japan for a new beginning in America.

Her life changed when she met our father, Lyle, an American G.I., and they were married in Tokyo, Japan

in November 1956. She barely knew our father, had never heard of Idaho and didn't speak English, and

yet she chose to move to the country that had bombed her homeland and then rebuilt it. Her decision

didn't sit well with her family, but she saw it as an opportunity to reinvent herself after having a

privileged life upended by war, famine and hardship. Little did she know that she would become one of

the 45,000 war brides who came to America in search of a better life.

Moving to America was challenging, but one condition stood out very clearly to her – an abundance of

food! This was an important part of living the dream and came to define her in later years. She raised

four children and always considered Bobby Hensley as one of her own since his clothes always found a

way to the laundry basket. Her full-time job was raising a daughter and three sons to adulthood – not an

easy task for a woman who was still learning to speak and read and write English, along with earning a

driver's license and attending to the endless trail of dogs and cats that always found their way into her

house. She quickly learned that the Stewart family was genetically predisposed to pet ownership and

there was nothing she could do about it. Our mother claimed indifference to pets yet knitted her fair share

of dog sweaters, and loved to boast that the reason her aging cats had nice fur was because she fed them

sushi grade tuna.

One thing she never understood was our father's cigarette habit. One day she decided to find out what the

big deal was about smoking. She invited her young children to join her in lighting up a few Camels and

inhaling them. We all felt sick from the experience and vowed to never smoke again. This was just one

of her unconventional superpowers as a mother. After her children were grown and gone, she accepted a

position working for the school lunch program at Priest River Elementary. She enjoyed her co-workers

and getting to know all of the kids. But most of all, she enjoyed being of service in a food environment.

She worked there for many years and at one point was the oldest employee at the school district when she

had her 79 ^th birthday. She retired at age 79 to care for our father.

Long after her children were grown and gone, she maintained two refrigerators because she needed room

for the plethora of food, she liked to have on hand. She was always prepared for an unexpected guest and

lived by the philosophy that "if you cook, they will come," a super power used by mothers worldwide.

She kept an excessive amount of condiments in her refrigerator and was living proof that most coded food

items are still good well beyond their expiration date.

Mom had a lot of gifts and talents and was an expert seamstress, proficient at knitting and crocheting and

was good at crafts. Perhaps her greatest gift was her sixth sense and ability to see around corners. She

had an uncanny ability to cut through the cobwebs and see what was really going on – another super

power her children knew they couldn't hide from. She was hard to fool! She liked watching all sports

and her commentary on football games was wildly popular with our friends, due to her heavy accent and

unique perspective of the English language. "He catch football, run, and then tip over" was probably her

most priceless assessment of a football play. She had a wonderful sense of humor and loved retelling

stories of the funny things she had said or done. Mom was also blessed to have the company of many

loyal and devoted friends, and she would want them to know that each was cherished to the very end.

Michiko was predeceased by her husband, Lyle, and her brother, Akira, of Japan. Her spirit lives on in

her four children: Pam Stewart (Brent), Greg Stewart, Steven Stewart (Amie), Gary Stewart (Deanna);

four grandchildren: Alex Haberstroh, Jordan Neighbors, Morgan Douglas, and Taylor Stewart; seven

great grandchildren, and her brothers Takemitsu Mori, Toshinori Mori and sister Noriko Sugawara, all of

Japan.

Mom made it clear that after her death, she didn't want a service or any kind of celebration of life event.

She said, "What's the point of celebrating me if I'm not there to enjoy it – just come visit me while I'm

alive." And everyone did. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Bonner County Hospice. We

were in good hands with them.

Please feed this soul. Thank you.

Sherman-Campbell Funeral & Cremation Services in Newport is in charge of arrangements.  Family and friends are invited to sign the online guest book at shermancampbell.com .