Yasuko Ota Varner

Yas Ota Varner, 94, passed away peacefully on the morning of July 10, 2023 in Mission Viejo, CA.     She was born in Seattle on August 25, 1928, the daughter of Mitsue and Masashige Ota who owned various businesses in Seattle. When Yas was only a few years old, her maternal grandmother died, so Yas's family moved into the home of her maternal grandfather, Kenjiro Nogaki, so Yas's mother could take care of the family, which had 11 children.    These were very happy years for Yas, who as the youngest child in the family was doted upon by her beloved grandfather and her many aunts and uncles. She also remembers being spoiled by her parents, who saw that she had lots of cute clothes, a full set of decorative Japanese dolls, lessons in tap dance, Japanese dance and gymnastics. And more than once, her mother took her to a children's radio show, where Yas sang on the air.

The Nogaki house was located at 1015 Yesler Street, in the former Japan-town, and when the Yesler Street streetcars went down the street, Yas loved doing cartwheels in the front yard to show off for the passengers.   This happy time ended abruptly when Yas was 13, when the U.S. government incarcerated Yas and 120,000 other persons – three-quarters of whom were American citizens, because they were of Japanese ancestry. Yas and her family and nearly everyone she knew were taken first to the Puyallup fairgrounds in the winter, where they were housed in horse stalls, then to the barren Idaho desert, where they were placed in hastily built barracks in the Minidoka internment camp in Hunt, Idaho.

In her adult years, she worked as a legal secretary in Seattle and Southern California. But following her marriage to David Varner in 1988-- just a few weeks before she turned 60, as she liked to point out – she worked with him in their real estate business.

Yas was known for her love of her many small dogs, mostly Yorkshire Terriers – the earliest ones all named Chotto (Japanese for little bit) and the later ones, Hime (Japanese for "princess"). She doted on her dogs, placing tiny bows in their fur and bejeweled collars around their necks, long it was popular to adorn dogs, or even to have small, "accessory" dogs.

In her younger days, she was known for being "the fun, glamorous cousin", always beautifully and stylishly dressed, with fine jewelry, fur coats and high heels – and the ever-present, well-behaved accessory dog. Eventually, as the years wore on, she gave these up (except for the dogs) for practical clothes and running shoes that were better suited to the semi-rural environment of Perris, CA, where she and Dave eventually lived.

Despite her flair for fashion and fine clothes, she was known even more for her cheerful, playful attitude toward life, for the care and thoughtfulness with which she treated others, and for her genuine affection toward the many members of her large, extended family.

Yas's elder sister, Etsuko ("May"), died as an infant before Yas was born. Yas also was preceded in death by her brother, Koichi ("Ed") Ota and his daughter, Jeanne Ota.

Yas's husband, Dave, died in 2018.

She is survived by her nephews, Ed (Paula) Ota Jr. of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware and Barry (Melinda) Ota of Mt. Laurel, NJ; numerous cousins, notably Warren (Ann) Nogaki of Irvine, CA and three stepchildren, Emily (Robert) Kirschke, of Moorcroft, WY; Alice (Tom) Coldren, of Oro Valley, AZ and George (Lisa) Varner, of Yorba Linda CA.

She will be buried at Riverside National Cemetery, with Dave. The family would like to thank Comfort & Care, the RCFE where she lived since September 2016, and especially her caregivers, Amalia and Olga, for their loving care of Yas.