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| Reiko Nakawatase Gaspar |
Reiko Katherine Miyamoto was born on May 27, 1940 in Fukuoka-Ken, Japan, to Yoshitaro and Aiko (Hamashima) Miyamoto. After her father died in 1941, she returned with her Japanese American mother to the United States before the U.S. entered World War II in 1941. They were evacuated on May 19, 1942 from Brawley, California to the Poston, Arizona internment camp. On December 1, 1942, her mother married Kenzo Nakawatase, who was evacuated from Escondido, California. They lived together at Poston camp I, block 43-1-A. On September 15, 1945, they left Poston and went to Wilson, Arizona.
She was raised in the Japanese American community in Seabrook, New Jersey, and in 1959, graduated from Bridgeton High School Class. In 1963, she earned a bachelor's degree in International Relations from the American University in Washington D.C. in the early 1990's, she earned a master's degree in Education from the University of Pennsylvania. She trained for the Peace Corps in New Mexico, and returned to Philadelphia where in 1964, she started her teaching career and was an early supporter and founding member of the beginning teachers union. In the early 1970's she married Gusztav Gaspar, a violinist and music teacher in the Philadelphia public schools. She continued to teach and in 1979, changed jobs and worked at the Civic Center Museum in Philadelphia, which served, entertained and educated students from the surrounding counties in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. She retired early in the 1990s from declining health, but continued as a volunteer teacher for schoolchildren at the Japanese House.
In 1984, she served as president of the Philadelphia chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) in the 1980s, participated in the restoration of the Japanese House in Fairmont Park and the development of its educational program, a member of the Pan-Asian coalitions, and Philadelphia Federation of Teachers. In 1989 and 1990, she was president of the Friends of the Japanese House and Garden, a nonprofit that funds and operates the city-owned site in Fairmount Park.
Reiko passed away on January 19, 2011 in Philadelphia.
She is survived by husband, Gusztav Gaspar; daughter, Ilona; and mother, Aiko Nakawatase; brother, Masaru Edmund, and a sister, Hisako Lenore.
Sources: Bridgeton News on January 24, 2011
She is survived by husband, Gusztav Gaspar; daughter, Ilona; and mother, Aiko Nakawatase; brother, Masaru Edmund, and a sister, Hisako Lenore.
Sources: Bridgeton News on January 24, 2011
