When Andrew was little, he tried to call Ken’s mother by the Japanese name for grandmother, Oba-chan. All that emerged from his little mouth was “Tun”. This name stayed with her for 13 years. On July 4 2009, our beloved Tun passed away. She was an amazing woman and we will miss her very much.
When Tun was just 43 years old, her husband (Ken’s father) passed away from cancer. With two growing children (Ellen was 13 and Ken 10), she found herself standing at many crossroads. She spoke little English, had no business background and was being encouraged to return to Japan. She decided to stay in Los Angeles and raise her children in America. She opened “Miura Market” in the San Fernando Valley and managed to send Ellen and Ken to private Catholic school. This small framed woman was huge in her desire to give her children a wonderful childhood and will forever be their hero.
Tun loved to travel and eat all kinds of different foods. When Ken moved to Switzerland for work, she and Ellen visited this beautiful country. Tun fell in love with Switzerland. She returned again to Europe and visited many other countries. When we lived in Brazil, Tun came over several times and fell in love with Brazil as well.
This is part of Andrew’s speech at Tun’s funeral. It is a sweet memory. Isn’t that what life is all about – creating as many wonderful memories as possible in our own book of life?
“One time when we visited her, we drove all the way from Arizona when she was at her nursing home. We would bring her something fun to eat like sushi or something she didn’t usually get at her nursing home. One day, we brought her ice tea. But, knowing Tun, what she really liked was beer! So we went out to our motor home, dumped out all the ice tea and filled the cup with beer. (Because you know nursing home don’t let you bring in beer!!) We snuck in the “ice tea”, put a straw in it and handed it to Tun. She took a sip and a huge smile came across her face. She loved the beer! I will miss Tun and I will have memories of being with her that will last a lifetime. I am so glad I had her as my grandma.”
