Ginko Haney

Ginko Haney, 84, peacefully passed away in her Warsaw home on Sunday, Dec. 10, 2023.

Ginko was born in Nagasaki, Japan, on March 1, 1939, to Yosaku and Take Noda. She told her family the memory she had when she was 6 years old of seeing and hearing the American planes flying over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, all while her older siblings were trying to pull her into a cave for shelter from the atomic bombs that were dropped in 1945. Ginko would go on to graduate high school and become a nurse. She worked as a surgical nurse in Japan and as a pediatric nurse.

Introduced by a friend, Ginko met a young U.S. Air Force soldier, John E. Haney, and the two married on Aug. 24, 1961, in Fukuoka, Japan. The couple would come in the Warsaw area in 1963 and grow a family together. She became an American citizen on Oct. 4, 1972.

When she first came to America, Ginko put an ad in the paper for ironing and alterations, for her first job. This then moved into cleaning houses, being a nurse’s aide at Prairie View Nursing Home and, finally, working for Zimmer as an electro polisher. While at Zimmer, she also helped translate the instruction manuals for the machines from Japanese into English. Ginko would retire in 1997. She was hardworking her whole life.

Ginko was a great cook of Japanese and American foods, taking pride in her egg rolls and sushi. She was a very good seamstress and enjoyed sewing. Flowers made her smile, and she loved being in her garden and enjoying an evening fire under the gazebo. She was on a bowling league and loved her dogs, JoJo and Lucy, and her cat, Kiku.

Ginko is survived by her children, Ginger Miller, of Goshen, and Jeff Haney, of Warsaw; daughter-in-law, Lois Witte; grandchildren, Ashley, Derek, Allison, David, Kara and Ariel; great-grandchildren, Avalii, Zoey and Hana; and many nieces and nephews in Japan.

She was preceded in death by her husband, John in 2001; her parents; her children, Virginia, David and Ilene; grandson, Bradley; great-grandson, Allan; and five siblings.

Visitation will be held from 10 a.m. to noon Thursday, Dec. 14, at McHatton-Sadler Funeral Chapels, 2290 Provident Court, Warsaw. Funeral services will follow in the funeral home at noon with Pastor Larry McCall officiating.

Burial will be in Lakeview Cemetery, Silver Lake.