George Ota was born in the Sumner area and farmed there most of his 97 years. He’d wake early and head into the fields, carrying a lunch packed by his wife. He’d eat it on his tractor.
Ota grew everything from cucumbers to berries. Ota Farms was once the largest rhubarb grower in the United States, said son Mike Ota.
George Ota took it all in quietly and wasn’t the type to draw attention to himself. He worked hard and loved his family, relatives said.
He died at home last Saturday.
He was born on the Orton farm property where his father worked.
His parents were from Japan. So were the parents of his wife, Kinuyo, known as Kay.
The couple married in 1939. Not long after, they were among the thousands of Japanese Americans forced into internment camps during World War II. Many were farmers who’d worked the soil in the valley communities of Fife, Puyallup, Sumner and Orting for years.
The Otas ended up at the Minidoka camp in Idaho. Family members don’t know exactly how long they were interned, but think it was a few years.
“It was a scary time for them,” said Connie Ota, who’s married to Mike’s son, Stacey.
George and Kay had two young children at the time. They had to pack a few bags and leave the life they’d known.
Later, they shared stories about their internment with the younger generations of their family.
“I never heard them complain about it,” said Kristina Ota Belfiore, the daughter of George and Kay’s son George Jr. “Now that I’m older and understand better what they were put through, I can’t imagine being put through that myself and not remaining bitter about it for the rest of my life.”
Stacey Ota said his grandparents “just said that they did what they had to do.”
The experience did leave marks. George and Kay didn’t teach their children Japanese. Mike Ota, the couple’s youngest, doesn’t have a Japanese middle name like his two older siblings do.
“They wanted us to fit into the community,” Mike Ota said.
After the war, George and Kay eventually returned to the Sumner area and built up their farm.
“My dad saw it all, from horses to state-of-the-art farm equipment,” Mike Ota said.
By the 1980s and ’90s, the family was growing crops on 400 to 450 acres. George Ota also became a partner in other businesses, including a bowling alley, an auto dealership and a turf grass operation.
As the couple got older, they traveled the world. They hosted family gatherings and took pride in their grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Kay, who died in 2007, was the glue of the family, relatives said.
George was the rock.
Some of the younger Otas still farm in the community where he lived and died. They now have about 180 acres, mostly sod, and do business as Sound Turf Farms.
Mike Ota said his father passed on a strong work ethic. Stacey Ota said his grandfather taught him to value honesty and fairness.
“And also that there’s no such thing as an easy buck. That’s probably what Gramps and Grandma taught me the most,” Stacey Ota said. “It’s probably why I’m still on the farm.”
Sara Schilling: 253-552-7058
sara.schilling@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/street
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