- Date Of Death: November 25, 2017
- State: Indiana
Koji Kuroiwa, 91, of Indianapolis passed away November 25, 2017. He was born on January 23, 1926 to Hisakichi and Tsutaye (Itami) Kuroiwa in Los Angeles CA. On November 15, 1952, he married Jane Ellen Hollenbaugh. Koji served in the United States Army during the Korean War. He was self-employed for 63 years as a Poultry Sexor, retiring in 2004.
Koji is survived by his wife of 65 years, Jane Kuroiwa; their children, Guy Koji Kuroiwa (Sheryll), Dan Koji Kuroiwa (Amy), Donald Tok Kuroiwa, Jane Anne Sutton (Jerry), Ted Charles Kuroiwa, Amy Faye Vorwaller (David), and Kirk Douglas Kuroiwa (Donna), sisters Faye Osako, Ruby Taki, and Linda Fujioka; 18 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren. He is preceded in passing by his parents, sister Micki Kimura, and brothers Tokuo and Takashi Kuroiwa.
Koji was born in Montebello, California as the 5th of seven children of Hisakichi and Tsutaye. He helped on his parents’ farm and attended public and Japanese schools.
One year later the Kuroiwa family was subject to Executive Order 9066, the United States’ forced removal of Japanese immigrants and their American-born children from the West Coast following the events at Pearl Harbor.
The Korean War followed in 1950 and Koji enlisted in the U.S. Army. Stationed as a military policeman at Camp Atterbury in Nineveh, Indiana he attended LDS youth dances and activities with an army buddy. There he met Jane Ellen Hollenbaugh at the Prospect Street LDS chapel in Indianapolis. They married in November of 1952 and after Koji’s release from the army in February 1953 they moved to Troy, New York where he re-entered the poultry sexor trade, a skill that became his lifelong career.
When not working, he loved to take his family on camping adventures and to historical sites across the country. After 65 years of marriage, Jane and her seven children, 18 grandchildren, and 18 great-grandchildren celebrate the life of Koji Kuroiwa.
