Heloshi Kusumoto, 89
Heloshi Kusumoto passed away on Nov. 22, 2018. Losh was a kind, generous, and loving husband, father, son, brother and friend. He was born on Oct. 19, 1929 … the start of the Great Depression … at the Triple Divide railroad siding on the Blackfoot Reservation near Durham, Montana.
The son of Joe, a hard-drinking railroad foreman, and Hama, a hardworking picture bride from Japan, he grew up with five siblings in a tiny two-bedroom house adjacent to the Great Northern Railroad in Whitefish.
Losh was the starting guard for the Whitefish Bulldogs, graduating in 1947. The gruesome war against Japan during high school led to his father being fired; the family cinched their belts and carried on.
His brother returned from Italy with a Silver Star; his brothers joined the Navy. Losh met Margaret Spink in high school, and they married in 1950 ... a marriage that lasted until Peggy died 67 years later.
They married in Spokane because interracial marriage was illegal in Montana. Losh joined the Marine Corps during the Korean War, then used the GI Bill to get a degree at Montana State in 1957. He was a career civil engineer for the Federal Highway Administration, rising to become the Pacific Region Administrator overseeing Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa and the Northern Marianas; his masterpiece was designing and building the breathtaking H-3 highway in Hawaii.
Peg and Losh lived in West Sacramento, California, for eight years, and then in Lanikai for 30. They had one son, Neal, who became a Navy captain. After retirement they spent summers in Kalispell and winters in Hawaii until finally returning to their Montana roots fulltime. Losh was a devoted fisherman, evolving from a boy who caught whitefish for the dinner table to an elite fly fisherman. The flies he tied were the equal of any, and his knowledge and skill always resulted in fish landed. He and Peg loved golf, and he scored a hole-in-one; their golf group was named the KGB (Kusumoto Golf Bunch). Losh always sought to do for others, expecting nothing in return. He toiled in the community garden to supply the Kalispell Senior Center with fresh vegetables every year.
Losh and Peg overcame abject poverty and overt racism to succeed in every aspect of life, and are now reunited forevermore. They never spoke of hardship or discrimination, never complained or looked back, never allowed circumstances to bound them. Losh lived based on his belief that principles trumped power, that friends were more important than money, that talk was cheap and hard work was the root of success. He remained positive, strong and faithful to the end.
Losh is now stalking trout in the ethereal North Fork, dappled waters gurgling over mossy rocks, long backcast framed against the divine, blue sky and snow-capped mountains.
A memorial is planned for May 11 at First Presbyterian Church in Whitefish this spring.