By HDN Staff
Emi Colier, 75, a loving mother and devoted grandmother, died Thursday, Jan. 10, 2002, at a Havre hospital of natural causes.
A memorial service will be 10 a.m. Monday at St. Jude Catholic Church with Father Robert D. Grosch officiating. A committal service will follow at the Highland Cemetery in Havre. A fellowship reception will be held at the VFW Auxiliary after the committal service. Viewing is 11 a.m. Saturday at Holland and Bonine Funeral Home.
Emi was born June 15, 1926, to Masao and Masa Miyake Nagamitsu in Belt. The family then moved to Box Elder where she attended Box Elder Elementary and High School. She graduated from Box Elder High School in 1944 and continued her education at the Sacred Heart Nursing School where she became a registered nurse in 1948. She worked at Sacred Heart Hospital and then Northern Montana Hospital until her retirement in 1986.
On Feb. 5, 1949, she married Satoru "Lefty" Sasaki in Havre. From this union four children were born. He died in 1975 of a heart condition, she then remarried to Ralph Colier of Havre.
Emi was very family-oriented and enjoyed it most when her family and friends were together for holidays and special events. She was an excellent cook but her real joy did not come from eating the food she prepared. Rather, it came from seeing the enjoyment others received from eating her meals. A person had to be hungry in her presence because she was always determined to feed them. He specialties included Japanese and Chinese cuisine, homemade dinner rolls, pies, and candies. She loved to spend time in the Bear Paw Mountains with her family. She even purchased a cabin and would invite everyone she could to come out.
She also liked crocheting and knitting things to give to her family and friends. She was an active member of the VFW Auxiliary and Eagles Auxiliary.
Emi was preceded in death by her parents, Masao and Masa Miyake Nagamitsu, husbands, Satoru "Lefty" Sasaki and Ralph Colier; brother, Tom Nagamitsu; grandson, Devon Habager.
Survivors include her son, Larry (Liinda) Sasaki of Havre; daughters, Patsy (Ed) Divish and Jean (Mike) Winchell, both of Havre, Margie (Ron) Thompson of Whitefish; sisters, Fumi Kyono of Minneapolis and Memes Kitagawa of Bloomington, Minn.; brother, Dick Nagamitsu of Lind, Wash.; 11 grandchildren; three great-grandchildren.
Memorials may be made to the VFW Auxiliary or Northern Montana Hospital Fitness Park c/o Kathleen Richardson.
