Forty-Nine Day Funeral: Forty-Nine Day Funeral: Okinawans’’ Forty-Nine Day Funeral

In 1962, Hitomi was born in a small village named Oozato in the city of Okinawa, Japan. She played basketball in middle school and was very active as a student. Despite her parents’ separation, she academically accomplished. She was enrolled in Koza High School. Struggling to pay for tuition, she worked. After she graduated from Koza High School, she attended Kokusai Kankou Gakuen. She learned English. She met her husband Kenneth in 1982. She has been the mother of three children, in a very supportive family. While she was raising three children, she observed society, community, environment and humanity. Hitomi learned English as a second language and Liberal education at Yuba Community College in California. She became interested in English literature. She now enjoys writing and painting. She earned an Associate of Applied Science in Accounting with honors at Ashworth College.