Nancy Yoshie (Arakaki) Shigekawa was the seventh of eleven children born to Tokusuke and Goze Arakaki in Honolulu, Hawaii on October 13, 1930 and went to be with her Lord and Savior on May 31, 2020 at 89 years of age.

She grew up in Honolulu, HI and lived on Kam IV Road until she left for college. The family then moved to their current family home in Alewa Heights, and this home is still in the family and was the location of many family gatherings over the years. Nancy attended Fern Elementary School and Kalakaua Intermediate School and graduated from Farrington High School in 1948. She attended Japanese school until the war started in 1941, and during high school she worked in the Libby's pineapple cannery where her oldest sister, Kei, was a forelady and got Nancy and her other sisters a job there. She worked in the cannery during the summers as many kids did, as well as picking pineapples in the fields.

Nancy moved to California after high school and attended Pasadena Nazarene College (now known as Point Loma Nazarene University) where she met David Shigekawa of Anaheim, her future husband of 56 years, until he passed away in 2010. She worked as a cashier in the cafeteria and David would purchase his dinner and then wait for her to finish her shift and then they would eat together. David proposed to her on the night she graduated in 1952, and then Nancy moved back to Hawaii to teach for two years while David finished college. David kept calling her in Hawaii to ask if she finally told her mother that she was engaged… it took her a while! They were married on August 6, 1954 in Los Angeles Nancy taught school while David finished seminary, and then they served the congregations at Anaheim Free Methodist Church, East Bay Free Methodist church and Los Angeles Free Methodist Church (later known as Mission Valley Free Methodist in San Gabriel). They had their only daughter, Wendy, while they were serving at East Bay in Berkeley, CA before moving to Monterey Park in 1974.

Nancy taught school for 40 years, taking a 7-year break after Wendy was born, and continued to teach until she retired in March 2002. She had taught children from kindergarten through sixth grade, but enjoyed and spent most of her time teaching first grade in the latter years of her career. She also spent many years as Children's Ministry Director or teaching in Sunday School at the various churches they served in, as well as being "everyone's mom" to the local neighbor kids and Wendy's friends.

After her retirement from school, she found her new classroom, teaching her new "students," her grandchildren, Erin (17), Dylan (14) and Ashlyn (11). She retired the year Erin was born, and although she told Wendy "don't expect me to babysit all the time," she and David babysat their grandkids 3-5 days a week until they both passed away. She regularly cooked dinner for them every night, up until this year before Covid-19 hit. The kids always enjoyed Grandma Nancy's cooking, as did many friends of the family.

Nancy was always very hospitable to her neighbors at their condo complex, where they lived from 2005 until now. She would have people over for tea or snacks and would always chat with them if she saw them as they went in and out. After David passed away in 2010, she held a special place in the hearts of all the kids' nannies and each of them always talked about how kind and thoughtful "Grandma Nancy" was and how they enjoyed cooking with her or watching the kids with her around. She became "Grandma" or "Auntie" to many friends of Derek and Wendy as well, who always commented on "how cute" she was.

Although she was a woman of quiet faith, she would constantly pray for her family and grandchildren, and faithfully read her Daily Bread each day, and enjoyed bible study with in-laws Don and Marlene Okada, as well as other friends from church. She loved watching the Food Network, mysteries, westerns and The Golden Girls and Jeopardy (with the grandkids).

Nancy is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Wendy & Derek Okada, three grandchildren, Erin, Dylan and Ashlyn, sisters Betsy Nakanishi, Barbara Oshiro and Jane Park, and many nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews.