Mei Okubo Hartman

Following a brief battle with a brain tumor, our beloved mother and flight attendant, Mei Okubo Hartman, of Oakland, California, passed away peacefully at the age of 84 on July 9, 2018 in Henderson, Nevada.

Born in Eatonville, Washington in 1934 to Tsurukichi Okubo and Isami Tsubota Okubo, Mei’s early youth was spent in Washington until the age of 7 when her family returned to their ancestral home of Hiroshima, Japan.  Mei spent her formative years as Japanese-American girl living in World War II Japan.  On August 6, 1945 her family lost nearly everything in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, but miraculously she, her sister and their parents survived.  Mei went on to graduate high school from Hiroshima Jogakuin.  She returned to the United States to attend college and graduated from University of Washington in 1958 with a bachelor of science in home economics.

Immediately after college, Mei began her career as an international “stewardess” with Pan American Airways based in Honolulu, Hawaii.  This was the beginning of a lifelong love of travel, for work and pleasure.

Mei married hung up her wings temporarily to focus on family. She celebrated the birth of her first child, Kentah Burke Hartman in 1965 in Oakland, California, and her second child, Lee (nee Lia) Kimberley Hartman in 1968 in Portland, Oregon.

Mei continued with her career as an international flight attendant for Pan Am based in San Francisco. In 1986, she transferred to United Airlines where she became well-known and well-loved for her long career in flying.  In total, she worked for 47 years as a flight attendant.

Surviving and left to honor her life are: her son, Kentah Hartman, his wife, Dianna Hartman, and their children, Zayden Kai and Aylah Kay, of Tigard, Oregon; her daughter, Lee Hartman Bateman, her husband, Bennair Bateman, and their sons Linus Samuel, Milo Nathaniel and Maximus Daniel, of Las Vegas, Nevada.

Family and friends are cordially invited to attend a Celebration of Life for Mei at the Konko Church of San Francisco, 1909 Bush Street, on Friday, August 3 at 10:30 a.m.  Mei will be interred at the Japanese Cemetery in Coma, California.

Mei will always be remembered as a hard-working, energetic and sociable flight attendant and as a loving and thoughtful mother and grandmother.