Hatsuko Akamine Conner Obituary (1935 - 2017)

Hatsuko Akamine Conner, 81, was born on June 6, 1935 to Sinya and Sizuku Akamine in Naha on the island of Okinawa, Japan. WWII broke out when she was very young. She and her family survived the war living in a cave and eating sweet potatoes. She watched the fiercest Kamikaze battles from the mouth of the cave. As a young adult, Hatsuko went to work on the Naha Air Station military base. There, she met her future husband, Luther T. Conner. They married and had their first child, Betty. Their second child, Ann, was born after they moved from Okinawa to Chula Vista, California. In 1968, Luther retired from the Navy and went to work for TWA. TWA contracted Luther to Saudi Arabian Airlines, and the family was moved to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Hatsuko spent the next 23 years there. On a whim, she introduced many of the citizens of Jeddah to the American donut. She operated a donut business out of her house, making donuts by hand, for many years. In 2006, she moved to Texas with her daughter and son-in-law. Shortly thereafter, she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Hatsuko is survived by her daughter Betty and son-in-law John Kwasneski. She is preceded in death by her husband, Luther T. Conner, her parents, Sinya and Sizuku Akamine, and her daughter, Ann C. Conner. Hatsuko will be interred in the National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona in Phoenix next to her husband on Monday, June 5, 2017 at 10:15AM. Funeral arrangements are under the care and direction of Vaughan's Funeral Home. Public condolences may be left here in the online guestbook.