Lasting Memories

Gayle Maehara Nakano
Oct. 30, 1941-Aug. 25, 2025
Palo Alto, California

Gayle Maehara Nakano, a wonderful wife, mother, and grandmother passed away on August 25th, 2025, due to injuries sustained in an accident in a parking lot a few days prior.

Gayle Kazue Maehara was born in Puunene, Maui. The daughter of Ichiro “Iron” and Florence Maehara, and older sister to brother Paul, she was raised surrounded by family, with a focus on education, and love of baseball. After graduating from Carleton College in Minnesota, Gayle moved to Palo Alto, initially working at SRI, and then moving to Syntex (later acquired by Roche Bioscience) where she spent her career as a research biologist. She met Bud Nakano while he paid her a sales call, and admittedly never purchased the insurance he tried to sell her, but he ended up buying it for her, when they married a little over a year later.

As a mother, she worked part time for most of her daughter Erin’s school years, to ensure she could be present in her child’s life, and was a strong stabilizing factor in her husband’s pursuit of justice for the Japanese American community, and the many extra curricular sports and activities her daughter participated in. She provided homemade Christmas cookies for family and friends, was the scorekeeper for Erin’s softball game, and was a long-time volunteer at Paly High School’s library, continuing after her daughter graduated. A lifelong sports lover, she bowled, golfed, was a devoted San Francisco Giants fan, and 49er faithful for as long as she lived in the bay area. A passionate theater goer, she held season tickets for A.C.T., and later Theatreworks, and travelled frequently all over California, Hawaii, and even venturing to Australia and Japan with family and friends.

Her quiet, generous spirit, keen observations and wit will be sorely missed by family and friends alike. She is survived by her husband, Bud, daughter Erin, grandson Cormac, and her brother, Paul (Monique).