Sadami Tanabe

Sadami Tanabe, 94, passed away peacefully on the morning of Saturday, January 11, 2020, in Boise, Idaho. He was also known as “Sada” by his fellow St. Alphonsus employees and “Sid” by his Boise Area Radio Kontrol Society friends and his caregivers at The Bridge.

Services will be conducted at 1 p.m. on Friday, January 17, 2020, at Relyea Funeral Chapel followed by a reception. A family graveside service will follow at Morris Hill Cemetery.

Sadami was born in Troutdale, Oregon, the middle child (second generation “Nisei”) of Seiemon Tanabe and Haruno Nakamura (first generation “Issei”). He grew up on the shores of Blue Lake on a vegetable farm. He attended Benson Polytechnic, a trade school in Portland. When America was brought into World War II, he and his family were relocated to the Minidoka Internment camp outside Twin Falls, Idaho, where they lived in Block 37, Barrack 7, Apartment E. Sadami worked in the motor pool and graduated in 1944 from Hunt High School. Shortly thereafter, he went to Cleveland, Ohio, where he worked at Yellow Cab.

In 1959, Sadami married Kazue Higo, who was a nurse at St. Al’s at the time.

Sadami retired as a biomedical equipment technician from St. Alphonsus Hospital after 36 years and was employee of the year in 1976-1977. His ability to think outside the box enabled him to craft just about any tool he needed. He built St. Al’s first defibrillator from electrical diagrams brought back by doctors from a convention in Chicago. He also worked part time at Intermountain Surgical Supply for a number of years.

Sadami was a kind, gentle, peaceful person whose lifelong hobby was crafting model airplanes from scratch. He won numerous awards and trophies and was featured in several national magazines with his planes.

Sadami is survived by his daughters, Kathy (Weldon), Shirley (Roger) and Carol (Robert); two grandsons, Andrew Sadami and Sadami James (Sarah); and one great-granddaughter, Taylor Marie. His wife, Kazue, and a granddaughter, Mikko Annette, preceded him in death.

The family thanks the staffs of The Bridge at Valley View and St. Alphonsus Home Health & Hospice for their excellent care of Sadami during his last days.

Memorial contributions may be made to Friends of Minidoka or The Ronald McDonald House in Boise.