Amy Emiko Aoyagi

1926 ~ 2018
Amy Emiko Aoyagi age 91 passed away quietly in her sleep on the morning of Sunday the 28th of January 2018. Services will be held at the SL Buddhist Temple 211 W 100 S, Salt Lake City, UT 84101, Sunday Feb. 11th at 4 pm

Amy was born August 19, 1926 as Amy Emiko Kodama in Tooele, Utah. 3rd of 8 children to Uta Hirano and Katsue Kodama. A family of 6 girls and 2 sons named in birth order, George, Mary, Ruri, Sae, Amy, Don, Helen and Barbara.

She was raised on a farm in Magna Utah and attended school in the Magna area. Graduating from Cyprus High School. After high school she attended beauty school in Salt Lake City.

Married March 7th, 1953 to Ben Shiro Aoyagi, she was by his side for almost 65 years. They were married Elko, Nevada with close friends with them as their witness.

Co-owner at Perk Cleaners & Tailors established in 1949 Amy was the face of the business. Greeting people with a smile and a reputation as the best dry cleaners in the business. They would work on peoples clothing until it was perfect. Sometimes sleeping there overnight to get the work done and keep promises to their customers.

On April 19, 1955, Amy and Ben became a proud parents of a baby boy. They named him Kevin Yoji Aoyagi. They would take him to work with them and when he was older Kevin would spend hours playing in the empty lot next to Perk’s where the library use to be. When he was old enough to go to school he would be cared for by the Newsmyer family after school until they would pick him up on their way home from work.

Amy was an extraordinary woman. Known for her beautiful nails she was also kind and loving to her family and friends. Loved people. She would host Thanksgiving, Christmas parties and special dinners at her home. Her parties were legendary. She would make crafts and Paseo cookies to donate to her church for the fund raisers. Her Christmas presents looked like they were wrapped by professionals. Her home was always clean even with Ben and Kevin running around making messes. She would do all this after a full day of work at the cleaners.

Amy loved shopping. Not necessary buying, but loved to shop. Every Saturday she would wake early and get Kevin dressed. Walk to the end of the street with him and get on the 7:30 am bus for Salt Lake City. When they reached the city, they would walk to the Lambs diner and she would have coffee and Kevin would have breakfast. As soon as the stores opened it was off to the races. Nonstop shopping at Woolworths, JC Pennies and every store on Main street. At noon, she would meet her sister Mary or her friend Cheiko for lunch at Auerbauchs. After lunch with her son in tow it was off to shop some more at ZCMI and the other stores on State Street. Around 6:30 pm Amy and Kevin would meet Ben at a restaurant for dinner. After dinner Ben would drive them back home to Magna. The next Saturday it was off shopping again. Shopping was a genetic thing for her side of the family. If she was in California visiting her sisters their favorite thing was… you guessed it, shopping.
Amy is survived by her husband Ben, son Kevin, brother Don and sisters Helen, Sai and Barbara, sisters-in-law Mitzi and June, brother-in-law Sweed, grandsons Greg and Corbin(Raven), daughter-in-law Leah, great granddaughter Olivia, plus little baby in the oven.

We will leave you with this quote.
Mama was my greatest teacher, a teacher of compassion, love and fearlessness. If love is sweet as a flower, then my mother is that sweet flower of love. – Stevie Wonder