Hoyt Nelson
It’s the end of an era with the passing of one of our club’s founding fathers, Hayami “Hi” Fujii. Hi was born in Berkeley and earned his degree in engineering at Cal Berkeley. After returning from the American internment center in Utah he started his first job at HP in engineering sales, where he stayed for 42 years until his retirement.
A little more than 50 years ago, Hi, Sam Yamoto, Tats Sumida and a few other Japanese Americans associated with the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) got together for a few ski trips to the Sierras and decided to form what is now called the Nisei Ski Club. Sam gave ski lessons to Hi and others, which impressed Hi so much that he was successfully talked into becoming the first elected president of the club for the 1966-67 season (the year this writer first joined the club). The club quickly grew in just a few years to over 400 members and frequently ran three buses on trips to Tahoe with pickups in San Jose, Berkeley and Sacramento. Soon, weeklong trips to destinations like Aspen, Vail and even out of the country were added. Summer activities included camping, fishing, water skiing, dances, parties and many other activities. Hi and a few other members brought their ski boats for our yearly water ski trips to Lake Berryessa and on many local fishing trips. On the weeklong club trip to Sun Valley in January 1969, Hi and Phyllis (Matsuo) were engaged and have been married ever since. Hi became a lifetime NSC member in the 1990s and was active on the club board of directors until 2014. Besides skiing, Hi was an avid fisherman (making many local and yearly trips to Alaska), handball, running, long-running poker games with friends, and was an active member in his church. At the club picnic in 2014, Hi finally hung up his skis and donated them to the club for a younger skier in need of them. Several months ago, Hi had heart surgery and went to a rest home for recuperation. After a month or so, he transferred to his home in Cupertino where he stayed until his passing on the morning of August 8, 2015.
He is survived by his wife, Phyllis; sisters Vickie Yumoto and Michiko Uchida; son Roger and Elaine (daughter-in-law); and daughter Barbara. We will all miss him and hope his skiing the fluffy clouds of paradise will be as happy as on Utah’s powder. Hi’s memorial service was held on Friday, August 28, at the Wesley United Methodist Church in San Jose.
