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| Dr. George S. Kido |
George Seiji Kido, was born on 7/26/1916 in Alameda, California. His parents were immigrants from the island of Kyushu in Japan and settled in Alameda. His older brother died of meningitis at a young age. In childhood, George like to go to the Neptune Beach funhouse but was not allowed to enter the swimming pool due to his ethnic background.
His father worked at Bethlehem Steel in Alameda and died in 1933. George was offered a job to work parttime with custodian duties at Bethlehem Steel after school & weekends during his school years in depression. He attended Alameda High School, where he was active in sports---in track & field, he held the long-jump record for 25 years, and he had an interest in cartooning. In 1939, he graduated from University of California, Berkeley with a specialty in Entomology. George was also a member of the University's varsity track team with the famous coach, Brutus Hamilton.
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| Mosquito control crew at Poston |
George was accepted into graduate school at University of California, Berkeley and received a fellowship sponsored by the Dairy Girls Associates of California. George had a great faculty advisor and counselor, named Dr. Leslie Smith, who continued to support George's research during his incarceration in Poston, AZ. Dr. Smith helped him complete his work on his thesis in camp by sending data to him by mail. In Poston, George continued with cartooning with 'amusing' subjects.
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| Mosquito spraying at Poston |
George developed a machine used to control the population of mosquitoes which were thought to be a carrier of equine encephalitis, a form of "sleeping sickness'. He used a 50 gallon orchard spray tank and place it on a tractor trailer. The Mosquito control crew used the sprayer machine to treat a pond. (See photo.) He also continued to work on his PhD thesis with his fiance typing his manuscript.
George had mailed measurements of future bride's finger to Dr. Leslie Smith, to purchase engagement and wedding rings and mailed them to George for his wedding ceremony at Poston. George was not allowed to be in attendance to receive his doctorate degree from the University of California in Berkeley; it was mailed to him in Poston.
In 1943, Dr. Kido left Poston and went to Wisconsin, working for a company seeking a cure for flea infestation on silver foxes. Dr. Kido also worked for the O.M. Scotts Company, a lawn seed company, and in 2 years, developed a solution to control dandelion on grass lawns. Dr. Kido worked post-doctorate at the University of Wisconsin and established and managed the Insecticide Testing Laboratory, for the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, in Madison, Wisconsin.
In his retirement, Dr. Kido received a photo assignment from O.M. Scotts Company in 1982 to photograph gardens and lawns in California. Dr. George Seiji Kido died on March 28, 2010 in Oakland.
Source: http://youtu.be/ttVzUks6OMI
