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Bill T. Nishioka
Bill T. Nishioka, 78, of Ontario, formerly of Caldwell, died
Sunday, April 5, 1992, at an Ontario hospital. Funeral
services will be at 2 p.m., Friday, April 10, 1992, at the
United Methodist Church, 824 E. Logan St., Caldwell, Idaho,
Pastor Rand D. Sargent of Amity United Methodist Church,
Boise, will officiate. Burial will follow at Middleton
Cemetery, Middleton.
Bill was born on
May 8, 1913, at Parma, the son of Japanese immigrants, Tom
Taisuke and Takino Takagawa Nishioka from Hiroshima, Japan.
Bill was educated in Middleton schools and attended the
College of Idaho where he played football and baseball.
He married Etsu Miyagawa on November 12, 1942, at Spokane,
Washington. They were active in the Japanese American
Citizens Club and the early Japanese American Citizens
League (JACL). They enjoyed bowling, fishing and
watching their son, Jon, play ball. Bill began his
farming career as a boy assisting his father on the truck
farm delivering produce to the Emmett, Nampa and Caldwell
conununities; and then worked the family farm. Later
with his brother and nephew they formed the Middleton Farms;
and, retired from fanning in 1976.
Bill loved sports. He was a devoted University of Idaho
Vandal booster as well as relentless fan of the Boston
Celtics and Boston Red Sox. He plaYed tennis,
participated in Judo and gaming; and excelled in football
and baseball. His baseball career, that spanned four
decades, began as a young teenager on the Middleton Town
Team. He was a member of the original Boise Valley
Ashi Baseball Team in the Idaho-Intermountain League, which
was predominately made up of Japanese-American ball players.
The zenith of his career came as second baseman for the
semi-pro team. The Boise Senators of the Border
League. He later shifted to softball, playing for the
Hoff Building Supply Team of Caldwell. Interest in
athletics extended to coaching and umpiring for area youth
beaseball programs. He was among the charter members
of the Middleton Boosters Club that built the High School
football field and lighted both the football/baseball
fields. He was also among the group of farmers who
assisted with the original ground work on the Purple Sage
Golf Course.
Survivors include a son
and daughter-in-law, Jon and Georgia Nishioka of Ontario; a
daughter, Anita Nishioka Castello of Boise; a nephew and his
wife, Paul and Janet Okamura Jr. of Middleton; a sister,
Grace Sakura of Seattle, Washington; a brother, Max Nishioka
of Middleton; numerous nieces, nephews, great-nieces and
great-nephews.
He was also preceded in
death by his parents, three sisters, and a brother.
Memorials may be made to the University of Idaho Vandal
Booster, care of Shaffer-Jensen Memory Chapel, P.O. Box 730,
Payette, Idaho 83661
Bill's family
will receive friends today from 4 to 9 p.m. at the home of
Paul and Janet Okamura, 13998 Highway 44, on Highway 44
between Caldwell and Middleton.
Friends may call Thursday from 4 to 9 p.m. Shaffer-Jensen
Memory Chapel, Payette.
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