JUNIOR TSUNEAKI KIHARA, Obituary

POCATELLO, Idaho Junior Tsuneaki Kihara, 77, died Saturday, Nov. 30, 2002, of heart failure.

He was a lifelong resident of Pocatello. After graduating from Pocatello High School in 1943, Junior joined the Army Air Corps and was trained as a dentist at the University of Minnesota. Junior graduated in only four years and remained in active duty until 1949.

He opened a dental practice in Pocatello and remained a reserve officer in the Air Force until 1979.

Junior was married in 1952, and had five children. He sold his practice in 1979, and returned to active duty in the Air Force, retiring as a colonel in 1985.

Junior is survived by: two sisters, Marianne (Bob) Endo of Pocatello, and Joanne (William) Kawamura of Hailey; his wife, Millicent Kihara of Boise; their sons, Ken (Cathy) Kihara of Havre, Mont., and Keith Kihara of Jemez Springs, N.M., John Kihara of Pocatello; daughter, Kathy (Mike) Lavarich-Kihara of Bend, Ore.; daughter-in-law, Allison Kihara of Boise; and four grandchildren.

Junior was preceded in death by his parents, Dr. Tsunikichi Kihara and Cisco Nojima Kihara, and a son, Jeff Kihara.

A memorial service will be conducted Saturday at 11 a.m. at the First Congregational United Church of Christ, 309 N. Garfield Ave., in Pocatello. The family will receive friends one hour prior to services in the church. Interment, for family only, will follow in Mountainview Cemetery, with military graveside rites by the Pocatello Veterans Honor Guard.

Arrangements are under the direction of Henderson-Cornelison Funeral Home, 431 N. 15th Ave., Pocatello.

The family requests that donations be made to the American Diabetic Association in lieu of flowers.