Kiku Kato (Payne)

Kiku Kato, a beacon of faith, love and passion, departed this life peacefully on February 7, 2024, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, at the venerable age of 102. Born on December 15, 1921, she captivated all with her spirit and dedication to her values and family.

Kiku was preceded in death by her parents Kisaburo and Hatsumi Kato, her sister Kimi Igarashi, and her husband Johnson Payne.

She is survived by her immediate family: daughter Renee Payne-Frankel and son-in-law Bruce Frankel; son Maurice Payne Sr and wife Julie Torres-Payne; grandson Maurice Payne, Jr. and his wife Alisa Diehl and two great grandchildren Leo and Eadie Payne; niece Gerry Yoshida (and great- niece Hatsumi Yoshida and great-nephew Kentaro Yoshida; and niece Valerie (Aiko) Igarashi.

When Kiku was 19 years old and a junior at University of California-Berkeley, she and her family were incarcerated in the internment camp at Tule Lake, California at the beginning of World War II.  The family became temporarily separated after the war but were reunited in Chicago, IL, where Kiku became a social worker primarily in the African-American community.  She married Johnson Payne in 1951 and they both became politically active in the 1960s by participating in many civil rights marches and attending Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s last speech in Chicago. She also was part of a group who formed a union for public assistance workers (aiding children and the disabled), the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, now a part of the AFL-CIO.  At that time, she was the only supervisor to join the front line workers.

After her husband passed in 1988, Kiku decided to explore the Southwest and first settled in Santa Fe, where she met, traveled and socialized with her many new friends.  As an activist and advocate, Kiku met Retired Colonel Joe Ando, when he formed a committee to designate a memorial to commemorate the DOJ internment camp that held 4,555 men of Japanese ancestry during World War II in Santa Fe.  Kiku was an integral part of this committee, and although it took several years of contentious debates during the City Council meetings, the Santa Fe Camp marker was finally unveiled in April 2002.

Kiku received her belated college degree from University of California, Berkeley 80 years later on December 9, 2009.  She was also recently recognized by the Albuquerque Journal’s feature article on “New Mexico’s Centenarians.”  Family and friends gathered in Albuquerque to celebrate her 100th birthday in December 2021, which also included recognition of this milestone event with cards from President Joe Biden, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, Mayor of Albuquerque Tim Keller and New Mexico Senators Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Lujan.

Her life, rich in experiences and blessings, was a testament to the beauty of a soul well-lived.  She will be remembered always for the light she brought into this world.

(The family thanks The New Mexico Japanese-American Citizens League for providing the information on her activism and sharing her passion for what she politically believed for a better world.)

Kiku's Life Celebration details are to be announced.