Tomiko Furukawa Cansler, 93, Springmont Drive, Hopkinsville, KY, formerly of Crofton, KY, passed away peacefully Saturday, August 30, 2025 at her home.
The family has chosen cremation and no immediate services to be held. Lamb Funeral Home is assisting with arrangements.
A native of Sasebo City, Nagasaki, Japan, she was born August 2, 1932, the daughter of the late Satoru Furukawa and the late Chiyono (Shimoda) Furukawa.
Tomiko was a homemaker and a member of Crofton Christian Church. She served many summers as a Bible School Art teacher. She participated in the Hopkinsville Art Guild for many years and was an accomplished artist. Her smile lit up the room and she was always ready and willing to help family, friends, and community in any way she could. As one niece put it, “She was such a cool aunt for three generations of kids!” She was kind, generous, loving, warm, and nurturing.
Tomiko was the oldest of 10 children. During the pre-bombing of Nagasaki residents were warned to evacuate the city. Bombs were dropped on the city as a warning of the A-bomb. She was a girl of 12 years old and had stayed in the city with her father and aunt while her mother and younger siblings headed into the mountains that surrounded their city. When the bombs began, she found herself separated from her father and aunt and alone with her aunts three children, one being an infant. Tomiko put the infant on her back and led her cousins through the smoke and fire of the city to climb up the mountain to escape the danger. She was successful in finding her aunt among the crowd and reunited the children to their mother. While sitting and resting and watching her city burn, her father walked up and touched her on the shoulder! The young hero was reunited with her family as well. This determined spirit stayed with her throughout her life.
In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband of 63 years, Ivan Dale Cansler.
Survivors include several nieces and nephews of Christian County, KY, Argyle, TX, Austin, TX, Chicago, IL, Nashville, TN, and Germantown, TN; two brothers of Japan; her sister, Mieko Yamamoto, of Japan; and several nieces and nephews of Japan.
