Shige Riefler

She was born on May 1, 1931 in Gushikawa-son Shimajiri-gun.

Her mother’s name was Makato (Tawata) Hirakawa.

Her dad’s name was Keiei Hirakawa.  Shige was the fourth daughter. Funny story, her older sister is also named Shige. The story is that when her dad went to the register to name her, he was a little tipsy. When they asked what her name was, he said Shige, thinking they asked what his other daughter’s name was. So, that’s what went on the register.

Siblings:

Yoshi

Chiyo

Shige

Keikichi

Tsuru

Toyo

Keiei

Keisei

Survived by:

Raymond Riefler, Jr., husband

George Riefler, son (wife is Michelle Riefler-children are Brandon (Brandon has a son named Jaden), Andrew, Lauren, and Ella)

Betty Goodman, daughter (husband is Scott-children are Christine and Corey)

Mike Riefler (Tyra-wife-children are Mike Riefler and Meghan Riefler

She was raised and worked on a sweet potato farm. She would tell stories of how heavy it was to carry the baskets of potatoes and how hard it was to get water from the well to water the potatoes. 

She told me that when she was young, while living on Kumijima, her and her friend were walking home one day and stumbled upon a tangerine-like tree. Her and her friend ate so many of the delicious tangerines that they became so sick afterward.

She met my dad while he was in the Air Force stationed on Okinawa. A fond memory was when he and my mom would drive around on his scooter. My mom called it a “putt putt”. Also, how he built a bathtub in the Okinawan house they shared. Also, when he and a friend wanted to take mom and her friend to the movie theater on base. All he had was his scooter, or putt putt,  so he would drive them one at a time to the theater. He would pick mom up, drop her off, then go back and get his friend. His friend would take the “putt putt” and pick up his girlfriend. These are just a couple of events, that are put together in a few sentences, that went onto paragraphs, chapters, and a novel of their life of love, ups and downs, through good times, and bad, children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. They were married on April 3, 1961 at the American Consular Unit, Naha, Okinawa. This year they celebrated 59 years of marriage. He knew her for 60 years.

My mom loved being a homemaker and taking care of the family and home. She took pride in her home and had impeccable taste in furnishings for the home.  She filled it with beautiful Asian furniture.  She loved to cook Okinawan, Japanese, and American foods. She knew my favorite was spaghetti and loved to say “Betty, time for spaghetti”.

Her favorite foods were Okinawa Soba and noodles with soup. Some of our favorite foods was her fried rice, fried chicken, soke bun-e (beef rib soup with seaweed and Daikon), cow liver, cow tongue (these were George’s favorites), Okinawa Soba, but everything she cooked was delicious.

My mom was the reason I became a teacher and did well in college.  At an early age, she would have me read things for her such as recipes and instructions.  I felt special because I was the one in charge of  baking all of the birthday cakes for everyone in the family. Another thing I remember is how she taught me how to write letters. She taught me the importance of writing thank you notes to relatives when I would receive a card and/or gift from them. She would have been proud that I received my Masters in Education because of her.

She was very protective of us kids. I remember when she walked into the field that was between our house and the school and confronted the two kids that were bullying me. They never bothered me again.

She always made us feel love and protected.

One of her favorite things to do was to go shopping with the family when we were little. She said she loved dad pushing the cart and all of us being together.

She loved Okinawa, but also loved America. She loved everything about American and she worked so hard studying so she could pass the test to become a citizen. She became an American Citizen on May 19, 1978 while my dad was stationed at MacDill AFB, Tampa, Florida.

Memories from George:

Mom and Dad drove their trailer to Tehachipi. CA., to camp and mom had a lot of Cambell’s Chicken Soup and mom kept offering me to eat, so I ate a lot of chicken soup that day!

Mom’s cooking dinners when we were living on Okinawa like fried chicken, cow liver, and cow tongue) and always asking or telling us to eat salad.

Taking care of us when we were ill, telling us to take vitamin c.

Mom’s strong will in her personality. (in a good way)

Memories from Betty:

Oh, my mom, dad, George, Mike, and me visited the Okinawan Expo Aquarium. It’s a really huge aquarium. As my mom and I were looking at some fish, an octopus was sliding on the floor of the aquarium. As we looked at it, she said “mmmmmm”. It was so funny.

She would brush my long hair when I was little. When my stomach hurt, she would rub my stomach.  One time at K-Mart, I lost her and went to customer service, crying “I lost my mommy!" After I went to customer service crying I saw her walk around the corner. I was so relieved and gave her a big hug. She was giggling because she was in the next aisle.

My daughter, Christine, said her fond memory was when she was staying with grandma and grandpa when they lived in California. She said grandma knew how much she loved Subway sandwiches, but they weren’t able to go. So, my mom made her little sub sandwiches using hot dog buns and made it look like Subway sandwiches. She gave them to Christine and Corey and said they were baby Subway sandwiches. Christine said it was such a loving thing to do.

Memories from Mike:

I remember mom always making us eat and making sure we always ate our vitamins, both as kids and adults.

Mom always seemed to have a sixth sense of being right most of the time, stubborn, but right.

She was always strong and taught me to be strong too.

Mom always made sure were doing good and worrying about us all of the time, always asking if we needed anything, making sure we were ok.

Mom-we are sorry for being such tough teenagers to deal with, but as adults, I know you were very proud of all of us.  You were so proud when George joined the Air Force and moved onto a career in Civil Service.  You loved him, Michelle, Brandon, Andrew, Corey, and Lauren. You never met Ella, but I know you would have loved her so much.

I know you were so proud of Mike. You and dad were able to help him when you lived in Lancaster, CA. With school and taking care of little Mike. You were so proud at what he has achieved…owning a successful business and his car racing. I know you enjoyed going to the races with dad. You loved Mike, Tyra, Mikey and Meghan so much. You also loved Tyra’s sister, Hailey. 

Mom, you were as beautiful on the outside as you were on the inside. Your strong-will and strength is what gave us kids the grit we needed to succeed in our lives, and we thank you for that. Thank you for being loving, protective, and showing us how to be strong. Thank you for taking care of yourself during your pregnancies, so that we were born strong and healthy. Thank you for protecting us, loving us no matter what, putting up with us, and helping us without question, when we needed help. Thank you for your unconditional love. We feel so lucky to have had you in our lives. What a gift!  We will miss your sense of humor. We will miss you always wanting us to eat. We will miss everything about you. I can’t imagine life without you, but we will be strong, as you’ve taught us, and go on knowing that you are still near.

Thank you, MOM, for a beautiful life you have given to us. We appreciate everything you have done.

We Love You and will miss you so much.