Rose Sawako Tani (nee Shigeno) of Lombard, Illinois, died in a car accident on Wednesday, December 19, 2007. She was 90 years old. She was beloved as a mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, as well as a friend and neighbor. Sawako Shigeno was born on February 20, 1917 in Florin, California, then a farming community outside of Sacramento. She was the third of six children born to Hikokuma and Koyoshi Shigeno, who had emigrated from Japan between 1906 and 1908. Because an English name was required to enroll in public elementary school, an older sister gave her the name, Rose. In 1940, Rose married Henry Nobuo Tani of San Francisco. Soon after the birth of their first son in 1942, the Tani family, along with over 120,000 Japanese-Americans, was incarcerated by the United States government, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. On May 10, 1942, the Tani family was moved temporarily to Tanforan Race track, south of San Francisco. After permanent internment camps were built around the country, the family was transferred to Topaz Relocation Center in Utah, where they lived for 16 months. In 1944 the Evangelical & Reformed Church offered Rose's husband a job, enabling the family to leave Topaz and move to St. Louis, Missouri. Continued work for the church brought the family in 1951 to Ridley Park, Pennsylvania and in 1964 to Lombard, where Rose settled after her husband's death in 1965. Throughout her life, Rose was known for her devotion to her family, her garden, and her church. As a long-time member of the First Church of Lombard, United Church of Christ, Rose volunteered in many church programs. She worked a monthly night shift at PADS, an overnight shelter for homeless people, up to the time of her death. Rose is survived by four children, Richard (Ann) of Mount Prospect, IL; Steven (Tricia) of Cupertino, CA; Christine of Wheaton, IL; and Daniel (Jane) of Houston, TX. Her third son, John, died in 1992. She is also survived by 12 grandchildren, two great-grandchildren; and one sister, Nobuko Kawagoye (Mits) of Los Angeles.