“The year our daughter was down after a skiing accident, Mich and his boys not only delivered the groceries but put them away,” said Cathy Barringer. “They even fixed a flat tire for me.”“Mich knew everybody and extended credit at the Garden Market for all sorts of people, he was just a good, good man,” said Carl Barringer. “Mich was sort of an icon in Santa Paula.”Ed Beach met the Yamamotos when his family moved to Santa Paula in 1950. “We’re losing a wonderful friend, our families were very close…. Mich was a wonderful person. He was always supportive of the kids in the high school, the football teams,” he would provide oranges for them, among other beneficiaries of Mich’s generosity and caring.“He was very kindly, especially to children,” added Beach. “The market was across the street from McKevett School, and Mich would help the kids count out their pennies, and if they were short he would make up the difference. Mich was very gentle, hardworking” and devoted to his family, as well as to his extended Santa Paula community family. “We’re going to miss our dear friend Mich.”“We just figured he would go on forever,” said Dick Yamamoto. “He got to be himself up to the very end… he did live a wonderful life, he was grateful and we were grateful.”The family is planning a Memorial Service on Sunday, January 22 at the Community Center from 2:30 to 6 p.m. “We would like people to share their thoughts about” Mich, his friendship and his impact on their lives. “He loved life and he loved people.”Mich’s service will be held the day after his and Helen’s 61st wedding anniversary and the day before Helen’s 90th birthday, two events highly anticipated by Mich, added Dick.
Mich Yamamoto: Garden Market owner, gentle SP icon passes at 91
January 13, 2006
Santa Paula News
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By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula TimesMichiaki “Mich” Yamamoto holding the hands of generations of McKevett School students as they carefully crossed the street after buying goodies at Garden Market is a sight – or experience - familiar to generations of Santa Paulans. Mich, a Berkeley native who found his true love while interned in a detention camp during World War II, passed away Tuesday, January 10, 2006 after a short illness. Mich was 91 years old, and had been gardening with a grandson the day before he passed.Mich, his wife Helen and her sister Lilli Nakagawa owned the Garden Market for 40 years. With Helen, Mich was honored as Santa Paula Citizen of the Year, and the couple was further lauded several years ago by the Boys & Girls Club of Santa Clara Valley as the Toast of the Town recipients. The Yamamotos were also heavily involved in the Ventura County and Santa Paula Historical Societies. So strong was Mich’s community support that he garnered a Paul Harris Fellowship Award from the Rotary Club, although not a member of the service organization.One of 12 children, Mich was born September 30, 1940. His father was the first Japanese convert to Baha’i faith in the United States, and Mich was also a devoted follower. He helped support the family while his siblings attained college degrees, and Mich had a strong work ethic.During World War II, Mich and his family were forced to relocate inland and later moved to into the Gila Relocation Center in Arizona. That’s where he met Helen Kimura, whose family had been moved from their Santa Paula ranch.Helen said she met Mich while she was trying to secure a mattress for her ill mother. “We were issued army beds, just the springs, and mother couldn’t sleep, she in misery,” leading to Helen’s quest for a mattress.Mich was in charge of those who could acquire mattresses, and although Helen’s need didn’t meet the parameters of fulfillment, “Mich, who was very precise about it, said he had a doctor friend and to see him” for the necessary permit. “I was issued a very thin mattress, and told my sisters, ‘I met this fellow that got me a mattress… I think I’ll marry him.”Mich and Helen had camp wedding on January 21, 1945, and were poised to celebrate their upcoming 61st anniversary. Although Helen said that life in the relocation camp was “holy chaos, something good comes from everything…. I met Mich, that was the plus.”Finally allowed to leave the camp, the Yamamotos honeymooned in New York and Washington, D.C. before settling in lived in Minnesota just long enough for one blizzard. They returned to Santa Paula about 58 years ago and found that Paul Leavens Sr. – their son Paul is named in his honor – had ensured the return of Helen’s family property. Mich and Helen had two other sons, Dick and Dean.The dream of owning a grocery was realized with Garden Market, which became a legendary meeting place and the focus of fond memories by generations of Santa Paulans. “I’ve known Mich since I was a kid, he was a fixture here in town,” said Councilman John Procter. “Mich was legendary for his encyclopedic knowledge of those who visited the store… it was like a clearing house for our lives.”
