Father Kleinsorge's whole life, from 1946 until his death, was filled with sacrifice and good works. He loved all things Japanese. He often wore Japanese clothes. He became a naturalized citizen whose new name was Father Makoto Takakura. Eventually he retired to a tiny church in Mukaihara, and the last ten years of his life were filled with illness. In l976, he slipped and fell, fracturing his back and becoming bedridden. On November 19, 1977, he died and was buried in a pine grove on a hill above the Novitiate.
After she was released from the hospital, Toshiko Sasaki lived with her younger siblings, Yasuo and Yaeko — who turned out to be alive — in a suburb in Koi. With no fiancé, she found comfort in Father Kleinsorge's words, and she was baptized a Catholic. Needing to support her brother and sister, she got a job working in an orphanage where she enrolled her siblings.
After the bombing, Miss Sasaki had a series of operations. She struggled to keep her family going. When she was able to consider her own needs, she studied to become a nun. Despite the difficulty of her studies, she realized that the tenacity and fortitude she showed after the bombing held her in good stead. She took her vows in 1957 and became Sister Dominique Sasaki.
During all this time, she had grave illnesses from the radiation poisoning. She also discovered that her greatest gift was to help people die peacefully. In 1980, she was honored for her years in the church, and she made a speech in which she stated that after the bombing, she realized that her life had been spared, but she desired to move forward rather than dwell on the past.
