Michie Kanegaye, loving wife, mother, grandmother, sister, and aunt, passed away peacefully at home on August 14, 2015. Michie was born and raised in Fukuoka, Japan, and married her life-long love, Mitsuru Kanegaye, on March 18, 1953. Mitsuru was in the U.S. Air Force, and their travels took them to Kansas, Colorado, Japan, and Okinawa. Michie’s “we can do this!” attitude kept the family together through each move, even when she left her own country of Japan for the United States.
Michie loved to perform Japanese dances, she sang karaoke solos and duets with her husband, and she loved to cook. Her many parties with the Japanese community in Colorado Springs and Denver were well known and well attended – she was the ultimate hostess.
Michie is survived by Mitsuru (also known as “Handsome John”), her son Dennis and his wife Barbara, her daughter Jean Opitz and her husband Eric, her grandchildren Amanda, Kyle, Denham, Trish Hilliard and her husband Jeff, Scott and his wife Saraben, and her great-grandchildren Lila, Ellen, and Eliza. She is also survived by her sisters and brothers, and their children in Japan.
While we are all saddened by her passing, we know that she is dancing gracefully in a beautiful kimono, with an exquisite fan and a huge smile on her face. She is free.
Interment will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Friday, August 28, 2015 at Ft. Logan National Cemetery, Staging Area “A”, in Denver. A memorial service will take place at 1:00 p.m. on August 29, 2015 at the Shrine of Remembrance “America the Beautiful” Chapel.