Sueko Higa Dote—Sue, to her family and friends—passed away at the age of 90, on January 13, 2019, peacefully in her home, as she wished. Sue, the eighth of eleven children, was born June 17, 1928, in Lanai City, Lanai, to Ijuro and Nabe Higa, recent immigrants from Okinawa. She graduated from Queen's School of Nursing in Honolulu, and continued advanced studies in nursing at Western Reserve University, in Cleveland. While there, she met and married Jimmy Kiyoshi Dote, of Sacramento. Daughters Janis and Jamie were born in Cleveland. The family returned to California in 1958, and settled in Gardena in 1963, where she lived thereafter. She worked in private practice, and after her husband predeceased her in 1971, she taught nursing-related subjects in the Torrance school district, and worked as a nurse in a California state youth correctional facility. Throughout, she made Japanese dolls and ceramics, filling her home with her beautiful artwork.

For the last two years, Sue was especially comforted by the friendship and excellent care provided by her caregivers, and by the neighbors who greeted her on her daily walks, and who dropped by to visit and talk. She is survived by daughters Janis Dote (Mark Nagumo), Jamie Dote-Kwan, grandchildren Jameson and Erin Kwan, sister Betty Thompson, brother Wallace (Louise) Higa, sister-in-law Jane Higa (Harold), and numerous nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers and koden, the family suggests a donation be made in her memory to your favorite charity or church.

A memorial service will be held Sunday, February 10, 2019, at 2:00 p.m., in the chapel at Fukui Mortuary, 707 E. Temple Street, Los Angeles.