At the families request, please view the link below for precious memories

https://youtu.be/F7NFl8eISm0?si=sLRSvpYMQbbgrwXb

Yameka, also known as Mickey to some and Mamasan to others, was born on August 2, 1947, in Fukuoka-ken, Japan on the island of Kyushu. She was the youngest child of Rin and Konomi Matsumoto. She had five older siblings, Masato Matsumoto, Kimiko Matsumoto, Kazuko Okudaira, Yoshito Matsumoto, and Nobuto Matsumoto. She is survived in life by: three daughters, Kazuko Margaret Neely, Kimiko Barbara Jernigan (Nee Neely), and Kumiko Suzanne Minson (Nee Neely); six grandchildren, Jonathan Neely, Tabitha Guilford (nee Lowrey), Brittney Rathmann, Alex Rathmann, Kaleb Palmer and Kelly Minson. She also has eight great-grandchildren. Yameka would tell stories of her childhood to her daughters about her adventures of living in a small village surrounded by countryside and nature. She attended primary, middle, and high school in Fukuoka and as a teenager was able to travel around Japan on school trips to visit the main island of Honshu and view Mount Fuji and other well-known sites. In 1967, her family moved back to Tokyo and Yameka became a live-in housekeeper for a missionary family, a clerk for Ariake Chain Company, and worked at a bookstore. During this time, she met and married John Herbert Neely III who was stationed at Camp Zama, Tokyo. She and John had three daughters in 1969, 1970, and 1971.

In 1975, John was given an honorable discharge from the Army, and Yameka and their daughters moved with him to the US, to the state of Virginia where his family lived. Though life became difficult during this time due to her divorce from John, Yameka was dedicated to the well-being of her three young daughters. Through many jobs and many moves, Yameka always made sure her daughters were taken care of to the best of her abilities. In 1995, Yameka moved to Tampa, Florida with her grandson, Jonathan Neely, to join her daughter, Kazuko Margaret Neely (Margie). She became a waitress and cook for Waffle House where she worked until the pandemic when she decided to retire at 72. Yameka loved game shows, animal shows, and food shows. She would solve word find puzzles for hours and enjoyed the company of the fur babies (cats). Before the pandemic, she was a frequent visitor with her daughter, Margie, to Disney World, Epcot, Busch Gardens, and SeaWorld. She would, also, travel frequently to visit her other two daughters, Barbie and Susan, in their respective homes in Alabama and Virginia.

In the last year, life became more difficult with her diagnosis of stage 4 lung cancer in March 2024. Yameka was still positive and full of smiles and quiet dignity. She fought hard with the support of her family, but the treatments and the disease took its toll, and her body finally succumbed in the early hours of December 28, 2024. We grieve deeply with her passing. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the American Lung Association or the American Cancer Society in Yameka M. Neely's name.