Makoto Matsumoto; Farmer and Gardener

Makoto Matsumoto, a lifelong Oxnard resident who used his farming skills to earn a furlough from a World War II internment camp, died Sunday. He was 81.

Matsumoto was born March 6, 1916, on the Limoneira Ranch near Santa Paula. His father, Sentaro Matsumoto, immigrated to the county in search of work and returned to Japan to bring back Shina, a “picture bride” who became his wife.

During World War II, Makoto Matsumoto spent a year in the Gila Bend Relocation Center, an internment camp in the desert about 60 miles from Phoenix. He was one of about 600 Ventura County residents among the camp’s estimated 13,000 inhabitants.

Thanks to his skills as a farmer, Matsumoto earned a furlough and spent the rest of the war working on a farm in rural Washington state, said his daughter, Edith Byers of Oxnard. He met his wife while working in Washington, and the couple returned after the war to Ventura County, where they raised a family.

At first, Matsumoto picked lemons and walnuts, then started his own gardening business, Matt & Sons.

“He had five sons, so that worked out well,” Byers said. “My brothers all helped with the business.”

Matsumoto used his gardening skills at home, too.

“My father was a wonderful gardener; our backyard was always filled with growing things, watermelons, cantaloupe, beans--there was never a lawn,” Byers said. “He was a quiet man, with a good sense of humor, and he was completely devoted to his children and his family.”

In addition to Byers, Matsumoto is survived by daughter Susan Matsumoto Kennedy of Hampton Bays, N.Y.; five sons, Stephen of Ojai, Ken of San Jose, Keith of Oxnard, Mark of Hawaii and Robert of Camarillo; and a sister, Hoshiko Ishii of Cerritos.

Services will be held Wednesday at 1 p.m. at the James A. Reardon Mortuary Chapel in Oxnard, with Rev. Ruy Mizuki officiating. Burial services will be private.

Arrangements are under the direction of James A. Reardon Mortuary, Oxnard.