YOSHIOKA, ETSUKO “BETTY” (1940-2015)

     Etsuko “Betty” Yoshioka (Poston 318-10-B) was born on May 12, 1940 to Goro and Kiyoko Yoshioka. Like all others of Japanese ancestry in the U.S., FDR's federal government stripped her family of its property and belongings once WW II began.  The family voluntarily moved from Los Angeles to Reedley, California to avoid immediate evacuation. Later, the “free” military zone changed and they were evacuated to the Poston, Arizona concentration camp 3.  She was imprisoned with her parents and sister Hatsuko, for 3 years. A sister, Mitsuko, was born a few months after their arrival to Poston. Tetsuo, the brother of the family, arrived two years later.

     After the war, the Yoshioka family rebuilt their lives, farming in Lawndale, California and eventually in Torrance, California. Her father died of heart failure at the age of 45, leaving her mother to support four children.

Betty Yoshioka

     Betty graduated from Torrance High in 1958 and then from the University of California, Los Angeles. Her passport soon had many stamps and her wanderlust never faded. In her twenties she lived on the tiny Greek island Skiathos, harvesting olives for a year. In her seventies, she returned for a visit. She loved to run marathons, eat rich meals, and dance. She was a macramé artist, avid reader, and loved to take photos. She built a successful legal transcription business, served as land-lord and property manager to her real estate investments, and was her own boss.

     Etsuko “Betty” Yoshioka died on October 7, 2015 following a prolonged battle with stomach cancer at the age of 75. She is survived by her long-time companion, Denzel Simon; sister, Mary Higuchi; nieces, Sachi Cunningham and Mari Higuchi; and nephew, Mark Higuchi.

Source: Published in the Los Angeles Times on Nov. 8, 2015

KOIDE, MINORU (1926-2008)

Min Koide

      Minoru Koide was born November 2, 1926, in San Diego the fourth child born to Taju and Miwa Koide. His father, Taju Koide, was the proud captain of the Enterprise, one of the city's first tuna clippers, if not the first one to carry ice Japanese American fishing community.

     After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Japanese American on the Pacific states were forcibly evacuated from their homes.  Min was evacuated with his mother and siblings to the Santa Anita Assembly Center. They arrived at the Poston, Arizona concentration camp 3 on August 27, 1942, and assigned to apartment 328-8-D. His father, Taju Koide, was under suspicion as an "enemy alien" as a tuna fisherman, and was arrested and detained for U.S. Immigration. He was transferred for incarceration to the Department of Justice internment camp at Santa Fe, New Mexico.  On November 28, 1943, his father was allowed to join the family at Poston, Arizona. Min graduated from Poston 3 High School in 1944 and was a member of the College Bound Club and vice-president of the Lettermen Club. Woodworking was a central passion in Min's later life, which began when the Koide family was at Poston, Arizona camp 3. One of his earliest creations was a chest of drawers with the scrap wood ripped from one of the barbed wire fence posts. On February 5, 1944, he departed from Poston, Arizona to attend college in McPherson, Kansas.

    At age 18 and out of U.C.L.A., he was given the opportunity to become a chemist at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography. Over the years, Min participated in many of the early SIO oceanographic expeditions covering the world oceans. The expeditions collected sediment cores and sea water samples for analysis in the laboratories. In the 1960s, he developed many analytical methods used in geochronology. These new methods used isotopes of natural occurring elements the sediments and sea water. With this method, sediments could be dated and used as chemical tracers. In the late 1960-1970s, Min in collaboration with Dr. Rudy Bieri, developed a mass spectrometer capable of measuring trace amounts of inert gasses (helium, argon neon, krypton) in sea water and sediment. In the early 1970s, Min developed methods to measure mercury, sulfur and selenium) in sea water and glacial ice from Greenland. This was the beginning of the study of the environmental investigation of man's activities on the oceans. This was followed by studies of the influx heavy elements (lead, mercury, zinc) into the ocean environment and its effect on the marine sea life's food chain. Again, isotopes methods were developed to measure the radioactive products resulting from the nuclear test conducted by the U.S. and Russia. These isotopes (plutonium) were found both in the northern and southern oceans and in the north and south polar glaciers.

     During his many years at SIO he acted as a friend, mentor and teacher to many of the graduate students working on their PhD in Geochemical Oceanography. All his work contributed to our better understanding of our planet-----the interaction of the atmosphere, with the oceans-----and the anthropogenic effect.

     In 1955, he married Amy Matsumoto and had one child, Gary, in 1969. For the last 25 years of his life, he was devoted to the passion of bowl turning from the most exotic hardwoods from every part of the world.

      Minoru Koide died on November 23, 2008 to cancer at the age of 82.

Published in The San Diego Union Tribune on Nov. 30, 2008

NAGATA, HITOSHI ED (1915-2017)

     Hitoshi Ed Nagata was born on May 2, 1915 in Sanger, California to Saichi and Tamaji Nagata.  He was raised in Dinuba, California and graduated from Dinuba Joint Union High School in 1934. He placed second in a long jump competition at a Tulare County High School Track Meet and played organized baseball with other Japanese Americans of the Central Valley. In 1941, he married Masuko Lily Abe and they lived on his farm in Kingsburg, California.

Ed Nagata

     On August 4, 1942, he and his wife were evacuated from their home along with other people of Japanese ancestry in the area and imprisoned at the Poston, Arizona concentration camp 3.  They lived at block 305 barrack 13, apartment H. On March 30, 1943, he departed with his pregnant wife for work in the military designated “free” zone in Marsing, Idaho. There, he helped raise and harvest sugar beets and their first child was born. After the war, two more children were born and raised in Kingsburg.   

     He successfully farmed peaches, watermelons, cantaloupes, cotton and grapes in Kingsburg, California for over 80 years. He attended many spectator sports, including the numerous West Coast Relays, and midget/car races in Fresno.  He was an avid San Francisco Giants and Fresno State Bulldogs fan. He encouraged his children to participate in sports that built character and teamwork. He enjoyed his family members who participated in football, basketball, baseball and swimming. Ed was proud of his college educated children and grandchildren in their accomplishments. He loved  fishing and digging for clams at Pismo Beach, California. He traveled with his wife six times to Japan, Seattle, Washington to Mexico, Disneyland, Hawaii, North Carolina, and Oregon.

     He served on the Kings River Elementary School Board of Trustees for 19 years and held various administrative positions at Palm United Methodist Church and the Japanese-American Citizen League in Tulare County.
     Ed Nagata, long-time resident of Kingsburg, California, died on November 8, 20017 at the age of 102 years, He is predeceased by his wife Lily ( 2010); brothers: Stanley Nagata, Gordon Nagata; and sisters,  Mallie (Nagata) Hanada, Lydia (Nagata) Shiba, and Lilyan (Nagata) Kiyomoto.

     He is survived by his youngest sister, Amy (Nagata) Akaishi of New York; children: Ronald (Margaret) Nagata of San Jose, CA, Gerald Nagata of Kingsburg, CA, and Valerie (Colin) Kageyama of San Jose, CA; grandchildren: Robyn (Rand) Ide, and Blayne (Heidi) Nagata of Hawaii, Kristyn (Noah) Jacobson, and Kelly Kageyama of San Jose, CA; Corrine (Luiska) Nagata-Varela and  Shelley Nagata of Daly City, CA; and great grandchildren: Jase and Cole Ide, Zachary and Tyler Kimura-Nagata, Mariana Jarquin, and Christine Varela.