Birth date: Sep 16, 1934 Death date: Sep 6, 2022
Richard Saito Obituary Richard Benjiro Saito, 87, of Honolulu, Hawaii, passed away on September 6, 2022. He was born on September 16, 1934 in Honolulu, Hawaii. He is survived by his wife, Agnes Saito; sons, Garrick Saito and Jas Read Obituary
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Richard Benjiro Saito was born in Honolulu, Hawaii on September 16, 1934 to Mary Elizabeth Kikue Saito and Richard Akira Saito.He died peacefully of natural causes on September 6, at home, ten days shy of his 88th birthday.His friends and loved ones called him Dick or Dickie.He was the oldest of three children. His two younger sisters were Ayako and Vera.Dick grew up in the McCully area and, later, in Kalihi. He graduated from Farrington High School in 1952. Being the adventurous type and eventually wanting to travel the world, Richard decided to enlist in the US Army a few months after high school.In 1955, he met Agnes Otake, who had just graduated from high school the year before. They dated and were married the following year on September 29, 1956. Yesterday would have been their 66th wedding anniversary.The young couple had two sons. Their first son, Garrick, was born in Okinawa in 1958. Five years later, their second son, Jason, was born.During his 20-year career in the US Army, he got to see some of the rest of the world outside of Hawaii and was stationed in or visited Virginia, Georgia, Japan, Vietnam, Okinawa, Cambodia, Thailand and the Philippines.He worked as a photolithographer in the Army, ultimately achieving the rank of E8, also called a First Sergeant. A First Sergeant is a senior non-commissioned officer in companies, batteries and troops. While in the Army, Richard also learned how to be a bartender and, from time to time, worked part time bartending on the military base he was stationed at.Richard retired from the Army in 1971 and continued to work in the private sector for an additional 20 years, until retiring for good in 1990.Richard had a life-long love of the ocean. Over his lifetime, he owned a small handful of boats. His prized possession was a sailboat, which he named “Shogun.†It was a boat that he loved to go sailing on. Some might call Shogun his ‘man cave’, where he could sleep, cook, eat, fish, watch TV and even live for short periods of time, when he needed some ‘alone time’, like we all do at one time or another.He was also fond of fishing. While cleaning out his things, Jason and I came across numerous fishing reels, fishing poles, lures, weights, crab nets, and all kinds of fishing and boating equipment that we didn’t fully understand. He caught fish from time to time, but when there was more than we could eat, he never sold the excess – he always gave them away to friends, family and acquaintances. He was a generous man that loved to share.He also loved to play poker – nearly every weekend since I was a kid (maybe even before that). Whether he was the best player of the bunch, I don’t really know - but I’m sure some people here today have an opinion on that. I remember when I was young, they used to play for a nickel a chip, which eventually was lowered to a penny a chip when the big losers could no longer afford to buy food for the week.Richard also had a lifelong love of classical music. Going through his huge collection of record albums and CDs, I’d have to say that his favorite composer was Tchaikovsky. I remember when I was very young, maybe about five years old, he took me to a classical concert while we were living in Virginia. We got all dressed up for the formal event. I remember wearing a suit and tie and we drove to Washington DC to see a performance of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker, a two-act ballet.Other random things that Richard liked were Chinese food, water lilies, and stuffed animals.In one sense, he had an adventurous side to him, unafraid to try new things. On the other hand, once he found something that worked for him or he was passionate about, he’d stick with it, sometimes taking his hobbies and interests to unusual extremes.When he went out to eat, he ate at the same Chinese restaurant ordering the same menu items every time.His fascination with water lilies ev
