Kimi Nagatani, 1918-2007
Kimi Natatani, a resident of Anaheim, California, passed away peacefully on the morning of May 10, 2007 of complications from an earlier fall.
Born in Port Blakeley, Washington on April 23, 1918 she graduated from Bainbridge High School and spent part of World War II incarcerated in Manzanar War Relocation Center in California and in Minidoka War Relocation Center in Idaho.
After graduation from Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania in 1946, she was employed by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) in Philadelphia, eventually volunteering her services with the AFSC as a relief worker assisting refugees in the Gaza Strip during part of 1949-1950.
Continuing interest and concern for displaced persons and refugees led her to work within the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva, Switzerland. During this time she was also able to carry on similar work for AFSC in Africa and in Europe.
In 1978 she retired to Orange County, California and transferred her membership in Geneva Monthly Meeting in Geneva, Switzerland ot Orange County Monthly Meeting in Santa Ana, California.
Kimi served on the Board of Directors of the American Friends Service Committee, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Continuing Learning Experience at California State University, Fullerton and as representative of Pacific Yearly Meeting to Friends Committee on National Legislation, Washington, D.C.