Kiyo Chikaraishi passed away on Tuesday, July 23, 2024, at the age of 100 in Lincolnwood IL. Kiyo was born in Columbia, UT on June 6, 1924 to parents Masakichi and Fumiyo Chino.
At age 10, the family moved to California to help her Aunt and Uncle run a restaurant located in Terminal Island. In 1942, as a consequence of Executive Order 9066, her family was first sent to the Santa Anita Assembly Center (originally horse stables) and then on to their final destination of the Rohwer Internment Camp in Arkansas. Kiyo worked in the camp hospital as an assistant to the Public Nurse and there she met a young assistant to the camp Optometrist, Ben Chikaraishi. In 1943. Ben was given clearance to leave camp and relocate to Chicago to complete his Optometry degree. In 1944, Kiyo relocated to Chicago and found work as a domestic. Kiyo began to pursue a degree in Nursing but as fate would have it, she and Ben decided to get married in 1945.
The couple first lived in Chicago then built a home in Mo