Obituary of Minnie Mine Doolittle

Minnie Mine Doolittle passed away peacefully at her home in Scotts Valley on Friday, March 7, 2014 at the age of 83. Mine was born in Honolulu, Hawaii on May 26, 1930 to Kokichi Sato and Ine Cusaka. She was raised in Honolulu and Sendai, Japan. She graduated from McKinley High School and attended the University of Hawaii. Throughout her life she also lived in Kaimuki, HI, San Francisco, CA, Corvalis, OR, Seattle, WA and Scotts Valley, CA. She was the official greeter for the state of Hawaii and a radio interviewer on the Hawaii Calls program. She worked as an airline stewardess for Aloha Airlines, a proofreader for the Honolulu Star Bulletin and a secretary for a number of organizations and agencies. She also classified insects for The Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum in Honolulu. Her loves and passions were fishing and wild mushroom hunting and was one of the original members of the Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz. She also loved to sew, knit, bead work and cook. One of her greatest achievements was teaching herself English after 7 years of only speaking Japanese. She did it by reading comic books. She was nearly always #2 in her classes, since only boys could be #1. Mine is survived by her husband of 43 years, George Marc Doolittle; siblings, Woodrow Toshio "Shorty" Sato, May Miyoko Biro, Sally Kiyoko Goodfader, Robert Hiroshi Sato and Esther Fukiko King; 5 nieces and 5 nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, Kokichi and Ine Sato; sisters, Lillian Koko Kay Kaneshiro and Clara Sawae Bingo; and brother, Samuel Koji Sato. A visitation will be held on Friday,, March 14, 2014 from 4 - 8 p.m. at the Santa Cruz Memorial Mission Chapel. Another visitation and burial will take place in Honolulu, Hawaii at a later time. A memorial donation can be made to KQED, SPCA or World Wildlife Fund.