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culture
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Katsuyo “Kay” Mende, a Canadian-Nisei, was born in Vancouver, B.C. on July 3, 1926. Following WWII and internment years, her family moved eastward and settled in Toronto where she married and raised 4 sons with husband Ron. She worked as a secretary for the electronics company, RCA, for over 20 years until her retirement in 1990. Widowed in 1999, she lived on her own, regularly attending Aqua-Fit classes and taking sumi-e lessons. She was reunited with her son Fred just shy of her 90th birthday. She suffered a stroke November 2017, and her limited mobility with the current COVID-19 crisis has left her housebound. She’s an avid sports fan, faithfully following the Leafs and Jays on TV, and especially the NBA’s Raptors.
Updated December 2021