Sakamoto Family

Yasutaro Sakamoto [1901 – 1976]

Motoko Sakamoto (nee Watanabe) [1906 – 1988]

Yasutaro Sakamoto was born on June 2,1901, in Fukui-ken, Japan. Yasutaro came to Canada in 1918 and settled at Avola, BC, where he worked in sawmills for two years before moving to White Rock, BC. He also lived in Webster Corner (Maple Ridge). In 1927, he returned to Japan to marry Motoko Watanabe. He returned to Canada and took up residence in Langley, BC, where they lived until the family was forced to relocate to Sandon, BC, in 1941. In 1943, the family moved to Slocan, BC, and two years later to Revelstoke, where they lived until moving to Nelson, BC, in July 1974. During his working life, Yasutaro was employed in lumber mills, as a grader and later as plant foreman. At Revelstoke, he worked for the Salmon Arm Lumber and Timber Company, retiring in 1968. He had three sons, Kenichi (Ken) Seigo, and Tatsuo (Tom), and five daughters, Mary, Naomi, Karol, Minnie, and Vivian. He passed away on March 15, 1976, in Kootenay District Hospital. Motoko passed away in Surrey, BC, on January 21, 1988.

Seigo Sakamoto [1935 – 1950]

Seigo died at the age of 15 from injuries received when he was hit on the head by a baseball during a game at Recreation Park on May 31, 1950.

Ken Sakamoto [1929 – 2014]

Ken was born on March 9, 1929, in White Rock, BC. He was interned in Sandon and Slocan during the Second World War, then came to Revelstoke in 1946. He worked for Burridge’s Plumbing, Heating & Electrical, where he learned the trade. He later started his own Plumbing, Heating & Electrical business in Revelstoke. He retired in 1994. He was a longtime member of the Elks Lodge and received his 50-year pin in 2014, before passing away later that year.

Tatsuo (Tom) Sakamoto [unknown - present]

Tatsuo (Tom) Sakamoto was just five years old when the family came to Revelstoke and remembers some of his early school experiences. One of his first teachers refused to use his first name, Tatsuo, and instead called him Tom. The name stuck, and he has gone by that name throughout his life. Tom and his wife Carol are still living in Revelstoke as of 2025.

Sakamoto family in Slocan, B.C., ca. 1940.

L to R: Seigo, Mary, Ken, Motoko, Vivian, Yasutaro, Carol, Naomi, Minnie and Tom.