Monday was special for Nancy Misao Yamase, who celebrated her 100th birthday with family and friends, including fellow residents at the Kauai Care Center.
Rev. Alan Akana of the Koloa Union Church was on hand, listening to the entertainment being provided by Dr. Monty Downs on his guitar, with unique styling.
“Nancy used to come to church where she became good friends with our hula dancer Rose,” Akana said. “I’m here to give her my birthday greeting and offer a little prayer.”
According to a history provided by the Kauai Care Center, she is the youngest and only surviving child of a family of about 10 children. She was born 100 years ago — in 1925 — in Lawai and was married to Rokuro Yamase who passed away in 2006. The couple had three children, Marian Egan, Beverly Marshall and Kevin Yamase. Yamase also has six grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
In her early years, she worked at the Lawai Pineapple Cannery (the real name was the Kauai Pineapple Co., or as the people called it, Kauai Pine). Later, she worked at the Wilcox Hospital in the activity and craft center where she helped patients with daily craft activities. She achieved a certificate as a Nurse’s Aide which was considered a big accomplishment because she only completed the eighth grade in school.
During her free time, Yamase loved working in her yard in Kalaheo from early morning to sundown, weeding, planting flowers and ti leaf plants, the centenarian’s biography continued. She also picked oranges, mountain apple, papayas, bananas and macadamia nuts from her back yard.
The history said she was an excellent seamstress and sewed all of her children’s dresses. Yamase loved sewing many different projects and made some amazing crafts by sewing on an old-fashioned foot pump sewing machine. Eventually, she purchased an electric sewing machine and continued to work on a variety of art sewing projects.
Following her retirement, Yamase joined the kupuna exercise class in Koloa. She danced obon dances at several different Buddhist temples during the bon dance season, and enjoyed all of the bon dances.
Yamase attended the Kalaheo Missionary Church and enjoyed participating in the church’s crafts and other activities, even dancing the hula on stage one Sunday with the Kalaheo Missionary Ladies hula group.
She also attended the Koloa Union Church where she enjoyed watching her friend Rose dance the hula and attending the after-church luncheons.
Yamase currently resides at the Kauai Care Center where she enjoys watching people, TV, and tries to interact with all of the bingo, crafts, games and daily activities.
