Toshiko (Tsushima) Kubo, 99, died at her rural Turlock home on February 22, 2026.
Born in Stockton, Mrs. Kubo was the seventh and youngest child of Harutaro and Chiyono (Takenawa) Tsushima, farmers who immigrated from Hiroshima, Japan, in 1910.
Her siblings all used Americanized nicknames given by their teachers in grammar school: Yutaka (Harry), Shizuka (Cecelia), Harumi (Carla), Joichi (George), Mieko (Evelyn), and Chieko (Genevieve or Gene).
Mrs. Kubo’s father died when she was 7, leaving Harry as the head of household. She attended elementary school in Stockton until Executive Order 9066 forced the family’s relocation and incarceration to the Stockton Assembly Center at the San Joaquin County Fairgrounds in 1942.
They were then sent to Rowher War Relocation Center in McGehee, Ark. She graduated from Rowher High School in 1944 and lost her mother in the camp the same year.
Released from Rowher in 1945, she and her siblings moved to Chicago, where Mrs. Kubo worked in a factory making electric transformers. The family returned to Stockton in 1946 and resumed farm work on Mandeville Island until reclaiming their property in the Barnhart Tract.
She moved to Cortez in the outskirts of Turlock in August 1948 when she married Shizuma Kubo. Together, they raised three children on the family farm, first growing row crops and grapes before switching to peaches and almonds.
Mrs. Kubo was an active volunteer with Ballico School PTA and Cortez Buddhist Church, where she taught Dharma School classes. She was a member of the Buddhist Church of Stockton, Cortez Shin Wa Kai, and the Cortez Karaoke Singers. She loved to garden as well as sing and perform with the karaoke group.
Like many of her generation, she didn’t speak much of her time in the camps but did so recently in Row Don’t Drift, a documentary released in 2025 telling the story of brother-in-law Yoshi Kubo’s incarceration.
She is survived by her daughters, Ann (Alan) Osugi of Cortez, and Lorraine (frank) Monaghan of Pleasant Hill; grandchildren Brian (Tonya) Kubo, Aiko (Dev) Yamakawa, Jeffrey (Diana) Osugi, Kody Monaghan, and David Monaghan; and great-grandchildren Lily Kubo, Abigail Kubo, Jack Eldredge, Tucker Eldredge, Jay Yamakawa, Reed Yamakawa, Isaac Osugi, and Elliot Osugi.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Shizuma, who died in 2002; her six siblings; son James Kubo; and granddaughter Meghan Eldredge.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Buddhist Church of Stockton, 2820 Shimizu Dr., Stockton, CA 95203.
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