Fujino Family
Masakichi Fujino's Imperial Japanese Passport photograph, 1927. P-14198.
Mitsu Fujino's Imperial Japanese Passport photograph, 1927. P-14199.
Masakichi Fujino [1878 – 1954]
Mitsu Fujino (nee Tanaka) [1892 – 1953]
Masakichi Fujino was born on May 2, 1878, in Shiga-ken, Japan, to Seizaburo and Tomi (nee Kawarasaki). Mitsu Fujino (nee Tanaka) was born on April 25, 1892, in Shiga-ken, Japan.
Masakichi and Mitsu were married in Japan. Masakichi and Mitsu possibly came to Canada in 1899 (Masakichi’s death registration indicated a length of stay in Canada of 55 years as of 1954).
They had one daughter, Suzie (Shizue), and one son, Frank (Hideo).
Masakichi was a fisherman in Eburne, BC, where the family lived until they were forcibly uprooted to Revelstoke in 1942. They lived on Edward Street in Revelstoke until he passed away on April 10, 1954. Mitsu passed away in Revelstoke in December 1953.
Frank (Hideo) Fujino [1918 – 1997]
Helen Haruye (nee Hirose) Fujino [1921 – 2012]
Frank was born in Vancouver, BC, on February 14, 1918, to Masakichi and Mitsu (nee Tanaka). He was a deck hand employed by Francis Millard Fish Canning Company Limited, West Vancouver, BC. He lived in Eburne with his family until he was forced to relocate to Slocan, BC, in 1942.
Helen was born in Vancouver on November 2, 1921, to Yokichi and Ume (nee Ueda, possibly a step-mother of Helen).
Frank and Helen married on March 15, 1943, at Revelstoke while they were living in Slocan. Their first two children, Jennifer and Ken, were born in Slocan. The family came to Revelstoke in 1946, where four more children were born: Norman, Sharon, Danny, and Ronnie. Frank was listed in the BC Directory in 1946 as a resident of Revelstoke, with occupation listed as carpenter with the Pradolini Brothers.
In March, 1950, The Okanagan Telephone Company Directory listed Frank’s residency on Edward Street South. Frank was a hard-working carpenter who put in a full day’s work and then went out after work to do finishing carpentry for many of the other Japanese Canadian residents. Frank also enjoyed puttering around his own home and was an avid gardener. He enjoyed the outdoors, hunting and fishing as well as playing golf in the summer months and curling in the winter.
Frank passed away on December 11, 1997, in Kelowna, BC, at the age of 79.
Helen passed away on March 7, 2012, in Armstrong, BC, at the age of 90.
Frank and Helen Fujino on their wedding day, March 15, 1943. P-14201.