Chizuko Gifford, age 95, departed earth to join her family in Heaven on Saturday, May 31, 2025. 

Chizuko Shimizu was born on May 7, 1930, in Japan to Sunao Shimizu & Masu Kubara.  She worked on a USAF base where she met, fell in love, and married Charlie W Gifford.  They had a son Lewis Wayne, born 1964 and a daughter, Michiko Marie, born 1966. 

After multiple assignments in Japan, orders came for McClellan AFB in CA.  Chiz worked at Civilian Personnel from 1975 until she retired in the early 1990s. 

Even though she was tiny in stature, Chizuko was tough. She and her family survived the aftermath of WW2 and she won two battles with cancer. 

Grateful for having shared her lifer are her children, Lewis and Michiko, her son-in-law, Ritchie DeMers, grandson, Benjamin DeMers, brother-in-law, Jimmy Gifford, and her nieces and nephews in CA, Hawaii and Texas.  She was preceded in death by her husband, her parents, sisters and brother. 

A a Celebration of Life Memorial will be held 11:00 a.m., Tuesday, September 23, 2025 at Hillsdale Baptist Church at 6201 Hillsdale Blvd, Sacramento CA.  Burial services will be held for Spring (May) 2026 in Gholson Cemetery in Gholson, TX.