ALUMNI
Obituaries
Sayonara RICHARD MOSS ’39, passed away the morning of July 3, 2019. He passed away peacefully, with his wife of 69 years, his three sons and their spouses present. Richard attended ASIJ from 1927 following the school’s relocation from Azabu to Nakameguro. He was very fond of his years at ASIJ. Being the third generation of an American family in Japan, his family were very involved with the school. Richard and his siblings all attended ASIJ. His father, Robert F. Moss, was chairman of the school for 17 years, where he personally gave Richard and his siblings, Peg ’35 (Margaret Moss Schoenknecht) and Mike ’38 (Howard M. Moss) their diplomas at graduation. Richard’s family history in Japan goes back as far as 1884. His grandfather arrived in Tokyo just 17 years after the Meiji Restoration and five years prior to the enactment of Japan’s
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THE AMERICAN SCHOOL IN JAPAN
parliamentary constitution. His grandparents settled in Yokohama, where Richard’s mother, Sybil Howard, was born. His father relocated to Japan from Columbia, Missouri in 1910 to work for the Truscon Steel Company. His parents were married in 1912 and shortly after, Richard and his siblings were born. Richard shared many stories of his time at ASIJ. Memories of teachers, exams, basketball games, excursions, Junior and Senior Proms, supper parties, ice skating and frequent tea dances. One of which, on his way to and from the Meguro campus, he would frequently stop at Shibuya station to pat Hachiko the dog as he faithfully waited for his master’s return. After graduating, he attended Amherst College but the course of his life and studies were quickly interrupted by the bombing of Pearl Harbor. In 1942, he was
