Sego Matsumiya

Sego Takita Matsumiya, born April 29, 1922 in Carbon County, Utah, the first child of Masajiro Takita and Naoko Beppu Takita, passed away on the morning of Tuesday, February 21, 2017 of injuries and associated complications from a fall outside her home in Holladay, Utah.  Characteristic of her resolve to ward off the negative elements of her longevity, she had been bowling that morning with her neighbor and brother-in-law, Frank Ujifusa.
She stayed mentally and physically active all through her life, enjoying golf and bowling. Sego was a dedicated professional, having practiced her profession of nursing for over 30 years as an RN at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Salt Lake City.  She was a nursing pioneer in the field of infection control and served for 15 years as the editor of the American Journal of Infection Control.  She was a volunteer for the American Cancer Society and served on the Salt Lake County Council on Aging.   Her commitment to her profession chronicled in pioneer research project reports in which she played an important role and which remain classics in the world of infection control published in the New England Journal of Medicine and the American Journal of Medicine.
Sego married Kay Matsumiya on September 2, 1945 in Salt Lake City.  They promptly moved to Sioux Falls, South Dakota where Kay ultimately owned his own business as a “poultry technician” (also known as “chick sexing”).  They were blessed with two daughters, Katherine “Bunny” and Gail.  Kay died tragically, at the age of 32, in an auto accident in July of 1954.  Sego immediately moved back to Salt Lake City where her three siblings, Kiyo Takita Matsumori, Joey Takita and Mary (“Tootsie”) Takita Ujifusa were living and wound up living in a home next door to Tootsie and her husband, Frank where she remained until her passing.
Sego is preceded in death by her husband, Kay, parents, her parents-in-law, her three siblings and her oldest daughter, Bunny.  She is survived by her daughter Gail,in-laws and nephews and nieces (and grand nephews and grand nieces) on both her side of the family and Kay’s side of the family.  We who survive are grateful for her example of unbending tenacity in and about life and work.
Happy family reunions, Sego.
Service Information

Memorial Service
March 4, 2017 at 11:00 am
Murray Memorial Mortuary (5850 South 900 East, Murray, UT 84121)