NIIZAWA, JOHNNY CHUICHI passed away on October 11, 2011 in the Fresno Veterans Administration Hospital after a lingering illness. He was born in Turlock, Calif. in the Lillian Collins Hospital on August 9, 1925, the first born of the late Take and Zitaro Niizawa. Johnny leaves behind his wife Yoshiko Kotsubo Niizawa after 60 years and 11 months of marriage. He also is survived by his son Stanley T. Niizawa of Clovis. He was preceded in death by his daughter Janet H. Niizawa, in 1978.
Johnny was a Military Intelligence Service linguist during WWII, stationed at the Tokyo Headquarters during the occupation period. Johnny was active in the Sanger-Fresno community in the local JACL and was a founding member of the Kerry Nakagawa Baseball History Project. He worked many different jobs in and around the Central Valley farming community and the most recently as an insurance agent. He is still remembered for his prowess as a young teenager and even as an adult for his baseball pitching talent. His hobbies were fishing, hunting and bowling.
Johnny will be missed by his siblings, his in-laws, and many nieces and nephews Graveside services were held at the Sanger Cemetery on Oct. 19, 2011.

Turlock Journal
Saturday, October 22, 2011