Age 93, Died on September 3rd, 2025 in Wilmington, Delaware. She was a resident of Country House, Greenville. She was born in San Francisco, CA, the older of the two daughters of Kiyoshi and Ai (Tamura) Chiwaki.
When Executive Order 9066 was issued on February 19, 1942, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th,1941, persons of Japanese ancestry living on the West Coast were evacuated inland by the US Army. The Chiwaki family was interned in the Central Utah Relocation Project, Topaz, Utah. The 4 family members lived behind a barbed wire fence in a barrack, in one room, with a coal-burning pot-bellied stove and no running water. They remained in Topaz for the duration of World War II. In August 1945, they relocated to Los Angeles, CA, where Kiyoshi had lived and worked as a young man when he came to the United States in 1907.
On May 1, 1955, Noriko married Robert Alton Clement, a New England Yankee and graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Robert received his PhD in chemistry from UCLA in 1953. She received her MS in chemistry from UCLA in 1955. The young family lived in Chicago, where Robert was on the chemistry faculty at the University of Chicago. He accepted employment with the DuPont company in 1962 and the family moved to Wilmington, DE.
After their four sons were grown, she worked for many years in DuPont Central Research and Development as an in-house Japanese translator and interpreter. She participated in the fluorocarbon alternatives project and in the product development of “Waterproof”, the DuPont analog color-proofing system. She retired as information scientist from DuPont in 2001, but kept active as an independent contractor in Japanese translation and interpreting. She was also active in ChemVets, the Delaware Section retired chemists and engineers group of the American Chemical Society.
Robert, her beloved and supportive husband of 46 years, died in 2001. She is survived by their four sons and wives, Brian (Teresa), Colin (Cynthia LeeBing), Nathan (Nanci), Justin (Kristen), ten grandchildren, 4 great-grandchildren, her sister Misako Fujisaki, and extended family.
A visitation will be held on Friday, September 19th from 10-11am at McCrery & Harra Funeral Home, 3924 Concord Pk. Wilmington with a memorial service to follow at 11am. Internment to be private.
A livestream of the funeral service will be available at: https://my.gather.app/remember/noriko-clement
The family suggests that contributions in the memory of Noriko Clement may be made to the Country House Unrestricted Fund, 4830 Kennett Pike, Wilmington, DE 19807 or to the First Unitarian Church, 730 Halstead Road, Wilmington, DE 19803.
For online condolences visit: www.mccreryandharra.com
