Shizuyo “Nancy” Merlau passed away early in the morning, at home, on May 28, 2011. Her husband, Allan was at her side holding her hand as the Lord ushered her into heaven. <\/p>\n
Shizuyo was the eldest child of eight children born to Seitaro and Hase Nakashima in Nagasaki, Japan. Her father had a construction\/contraction business, building schools, public buildings and housing in the Nagasaki area. Shizuyo moved to Sasebo to work after completing the 8th grade. She was very intelligent but unable to complete her high school education due to poverty after the war. Her younger siblings always said their teachers would scold them saying “Why aren’t you half as smart as your older sister” if they didn’t do well in school. <\/p>\n
In 1960, Shizuyo met Allan Merlau, who was stationed in Japan with the U.S. Navy. They were married on November 17, 1961 at the American Consulate, Fukuoka Japan and the wedding was in Sasebo. They were transferred to San Diego in the spring of 1962. The first winter in the USA was spent in Lewistown, Montana with her in-laws as Allan was still in the Navy and his ship returned to Japan for six months. Winter in Montana was quite a shock being from Southern and tropical Japan. She didn’t realize that in three feet of snow and minus 20 degree weather, you didn’t hang wet laundry outside to dry, it freezes immediately and is hard to remove from the line! Despite the cold, they returned to Montana from San Diego in October 1963. <\/p>\n
Shizuyo took up permanent residence in Helena in 1968. She loved doing voluntary work at Helena First Assembly of God Church. She also sang in the choir, enjoyed crafts, bowling, camping, fishing and the beauty of this great state. She became a U.S. Citizen on November 17, 1965 and was proud to claim this country as her second home. She had been back to Japan many times in years past to visit her friends and family. Her kind, gentile and generous ways will be so missed by her husband and many friends. <\/p>\n
Shizuyo is survived by her husband, Allan Merlau; brothers, Akida, Kingo, Katsuki, and Kyoto Nakashima; brother-in-law, Douglas Merlau; and sister-in-law, Jeanette (Merlau) Bachman. The Goodman and Pagels families are considered a part of her dear family. <\/p>\n
Preceding her in death were her Father and Mother Nakashima, a sister, Chikako, and brothers, Kiomi and Ciharo. <\/p>\n
Visitation will begin at noon with the family receiving friends from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Wednesday, June 1st at Anderson Stevenson Wilke Funeral Home. Funeral services are scheduled for 1:00 p.m. Thursday, June 2nd at First Assembly of God Church, 2210 Dodge Avenue. Memorials in Nancy\u2019s name are suggested to the First Assembly of God Church C\/O Chi-Alpha 2210 Dodge Avenue Helena MT 59601. Condolences may be sent to the family by visiting: www.aswfuneralhome.com.<\/p>\n","photo":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/392980_profile_pic.png","youtube_video_url":"","family_email":"","family_first_name":"","family_last_name":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case\/844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/case"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}