Laura Teruyo Takeda

June 19, 1927 –  February 7, 2019

Laura Teruyo Takeda passed away Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019, at age 91. She was a 12-year resident of Ceres, briefly lived at Samaritan Village in Hughson and was a long-time resident of Union City.

Visitation and a funeral service will be held at Lakewood Funeral Home - Riverside Chapel, 900 Santa Fe Avenue, Hughson.  Visitation will be on Saturday, Feb. 23 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. and the funeral service will be at 12 noon on Sunday, Feb. 24.

Laura was born and raised in Honouliuli, Hawaii on June 19, 1927 to Yuri and Gensaku Murata.  She had five brothers and four sisters.  Laura attended high school at the Mid-Pacific Institute in Honolulu. She worked at the Libby pineapple plantation and the California Packing Corporation in Wahiawa, Oahu. She also worked at Sears Roebuck & Company in Hawaii and Los Angeles. Laura always had a love for music and played the guitar and ukulele in a band with her husband in Oahu. She also loved to embroider, crochet, sew clothes for her siblings and children, dance hula, gardening and cooking traditional Japanese and Hawaiian foods. Laura thought of others before herself as she was a caring and compassionate woman. She valued time with her family, vacationing in Disneyland, and especially going to the casinos, but her greatest love was caring for her grandchildren. 

Laura was the beloved wife of 53 years to Edward Yukio Takeda of Union City, CA who preceded her in death in 2005.  She was a loving mother and mother-in-law to Alison and Alex Buenaventura, Thurston and Davina Takeda, Rhoda Takeda, Cassie and Phillip Castain, Laurie Gebhard, Kevin Takeda, and Carrie and Dean DeVlugt; caring grandmother to Jon Buenaventura, Jaylene Buenaventura, Michael and Mai Takeda, Christopher Lee, Tiffany and Amin Khorasanee, Kelli DeVlugt, Whitney Gebhard, Kyle DeVlugt, Devon DeVlugt; and great-grandmother to Jacob Martinez and Skyler Takeda. She is also survived by her loving sisters and brothers-in-law, Winifred and Lawrence Abe, Eunice and Minoru Kaneshiro, and Hilda and Tom Isobe. She was the cherished aunt to Eloise Murata, Brandon and Dina Kaneshiro; and a great-aunt to Kazuo Kaneshiro, and many nieces and nephews.

Laura opened her heart to everyone, and made many friendships along the way. Anyone who had the opportunity to meet her, instantly loved her. 

–Ceres (Calif.) Courier

Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019