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Yoshie Montgomery

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Yoshie Montgomery, 74, of Belleville, IL, born Thursday, March 17, 1949, in Shimizu, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, passed away peacefully Saturday, March 25, 2023 at her residence in Belleville, IL after a long journey of battling pancreatic cancer.

Yoshie was a beloved wife, mother, sister, babaa, best friend, and sensei. Yoshie taught at the St. Louis Japanese Language School for many years before retiring in 2011. She was proud to enrich the lives of her students by teaching them Japanese culture and language. She also immersed herself in the culture through being involved in the Japanese American Society Women’s Association of St. Louis. She was passionate about her love for traditional japanese dancing. She was the director of the St. Louis Bon Odori group for 31 years. In addition to Bon Odori, she was a licensed japanese dancer and was the director for Tohzan Ryu for almost 20 years. She was the link between her sensei in Japan and her students here in the US. Every Labor Day weekend, Yoshie loved to perform in the Japanese Festival at the Missouri Botanical Gardens. Along with this event, she would perform at different venues and festivals in the area. In addition to dancing, her hobbies included calligraphy, karaoke, cake decorating, cooking, sewing, and being the biggest cheerleader for her children and grandchildren’s sporting events.

She was preceded in death by her:

Surviving are her:

Memorials: Memorials may be made to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.

Visitation: Visitation will be from 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm, Wednesday, March 29, 2023 at Kurrus Funeral Home in Belleville, Illinois.

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5 Comments To "Yoshie Montgomery"

#1 Comment By Sabrina Fudge On March 27, 2023 @ 6:20 pm

Montgomery Family.. I am so sorry for your great loss. My family will be forever touched by Babaa. We will always have the memories of her love for teaching us about Japanese culture, Japanese dance, and traditional food.
I will cherish her teriyaki sauce recipe that she shared. The fond memory of her inviting me to join the girls to Japanese karaoke, that was a hoot.
My prayers are with your family during this tough season. Hugs

#2 Comment By Kumiko Hamaguchi On March 28, 2023 @ 3:50 pm

My condolences go to the whole family.At St. Louis Japanese Language School, I worked with Mrs. Montgomery as a class assistant for a short period of time, and my daughter and son were taken care of as her students. I learned a lot from Mrs. Montgomery. We are deeply grateful and offer our deepest condolences.

#3 Comment By Michiko Ohtani On March 29, 2023 @ 8:32 am

Dear Yoshie sensei

Thank you for many happy memories.
Your smile lives in my heart forever.

I’m sure my grandmother will be by your side, so please enjoy Japanese dance.

Thank you for loving me like family.
I love you like a mother.

#4 Comment By Samantha Newman On April 1, 2023 @ 8:48 am

My condolences to the whole Montgomery family. I was taking an Asian Art class in college and a guy named Dan said they were doing auditions for a dance group at the botanical gardens. I went and fell in love with Bon Odori dancing. But what made it special was Sensei. She pushed me to perfection. She cared about me and my sister that danced and later my family. She taught me more than dance. She helped me learn about my own Asian heritage. She sometimes only spoke to me in Japanese forcing me to learn. Sensei always had a way of making me feel better and was there for me when I was going through my divorce. I will miss her always and know I’m better off having known her.

#5 Comment By Peter Wittenberg On April 9, 2023 @ 6:22 pm

Along with all the other students in our Japanese classes at Fontbonne, we all loved having Yoshie as our teacher. It would be difficult to have a better ambassador of Japanese culture than her or someone more at home in two cultures simultaneously than her. With Yoshie, Japanese language and culture was always open to interested people.