Tomoko Nuzum
Tomoko Tomita Nuzum, 87, passed away peacefully at home on January 18, 2022. At the time of her death, she was living in Arlington, VA. She was previously a resident of Cumberland, RI for 12 years, and of Stamford, CT for more than 30 years.
Born in 1934 in Korea of Japanese parents, young Tomoko’s family eventually moved back to Sendai, Japan, her father’s hometown. It was in Sendai that she met a young American soldier named Robert Lee Nuzum, and fell in love. In 1955 they married and left Japan for a new life together in the United States.
They resided in New Jersey (Jersey City; Edison) and then Connecticut (Orange; Stamford) while raising two children, Janet and Daniel. Tomoko worked as an accountant in Stamford, CT for Philips Norelco, and in Fairfield, CT for her husband’s CPA practice. In 2004 she and her husband moved to Cumberland, RI to be closer to their grandson, Chance. After her husband passed in 2013, Tomoko moved to Arlington, VA in 2017 to live with her daughter and son-in-law.
Tomoko was known for her kind, generous spirit, a warm smile and infectious laugh. She enjoyed sports and was an avid tennis player. In her senior years, she played table tennis and at age 75, placed third in the Rhode Island Senior Olympic Table Tennis Championships. She was very creative and loved crafts, sewing, needlecraft, painting, gardening and piano. She was a member of the Crafty Ladies group of the Japanese American Citizens League.
She is survived by her daughter Janet (John Ziolkowski) of Arlington, VA; son Daniel (Margarita) of Bodfish, CA; grandson Chance of Bodfish, CA; and sister Haruko Iida of Kashiwa-shi, Japan. She was predeceased by her husband Robert Nuzum; her father Takeo Tomita; her mother Ko Tomita; and her sister Ryoko Takahashi.
A Celebration Of Life service is planned for this spring or summer in Arlington, VA. Please check her online memorial at tomokonuzum.forevermissed.com for details and updates. Interment will take place at Rhode Island Veterans Memorial Cemetery, next to her husband’s grave.
Charitable donations in her memory may be made to Virginia Hospital Center Foundation, online at vhcfoundation.com/give, and the Japanese American Citizens League, online at jacl.org/donate. Notifications and cards may be sent c/o Janet Nuzum, 3709 36th Road N., Arlington, VA 22207.