KOBAYASHI, EDDIE MASUMI (1916-2011)

      Eddie Masumi Kobayashi was born on December 3, 1916 in Pajaro, California to Japanese immigrant apple farmers, Soichi and Kinuyo Masaki Kobayashi. At age 3, he moved with his mother, Kinuyo Masaki Kobayashi  to Iwakuni, Yamaguchi-ken, Japan and attended school there. On May 5,1931, Eddie returned alone to the United States, departing from the port of Kobe on the SS. Chichibu Maru. He continued farming in the Pajaro area and on March 21, 1940, he married Fumiko Jean Yagi from Pajaro.

Eddie Kobayashi

     Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Eddie, his wife, Jean and brother, Koichi Kobayashi were evacuated from Watsonville to the Salinas Assembly Center in the spring of 1942.  After a few months, they were moved to their permanent war time living quarters at the  Poston, Arizona internment camp on June 29, 1942.  On October 7, 1943, Eddie, Jean and Koichi Kobayashi were transferred out of Poston to the Tule Lake Segregation Center, located in Modoc County, California.  Sumiye Madeline was born in September of 1944.  After leaving Tule Lake, they returned to farming in the Pajaro Valley, and a son, Ronald Thomas was born in 1948.

     Eddie Kobayashi was one of the Pajaro area's first farmers to successfully raise strawberries.  They were distributed nationally by Driscoll.  His farming business extended to farms in Castroville and Salinas, and his strawberries won numerous Blue Ribbon awards at the Monterey County and Santa Cruz County Fairs. Eddie had a private label,  "Eddie K Strawberries."  He retired in the early 1980's and lived in Watsonville for over 40 years.  
     On October 25, 1999, Eddie Kobayashi moved to Guam and lived with his son's family. Eddie died at the age of 94 years on June 20, 2011. He is preceded in death by his parents, Soichi Kobayashi and Kinuyo Masaki Kobayashi; brothers, Soeru Robert (2006), Susumu, and Koichi Kobayashi; and sisters, Misuko Kobayashi, Fumiye K. Akimoto, and Sachiko Okihara.

     Eddie Kobayashi is survived by his wife, Fumiko Jean (Yagi) Kobayashi; son, Ronald T. (Sheila) Kobayashi, M.D.; and daughter, Sumiye Madeline Huffstutter.

Primary source: Santa Cruz Sentinel, July 13, 2011

CHENG, ALICE KIKUYE (KONNO) 1940 - 2009

     Alice Kikuye Konno (Poston 19-9-D) was born on November 2, 1940 in Kern County, California. She  was the eldest of three children born to Japanese immigrant, Fred Susumu and Hanaye (Sekine) Konno, born in Hawaii. 
     On May 25, 1942, Alice and her  parents were evacuated from Bakersfield, California to the Poston, Arizona internment camp block 19-9-D. A few months later, her baby brother, Kenichi Richard Konno was born on August 28, 1942 during the early months at Poston.  After living three years in the Arizona desert, the Konno family left Poston and returned to Bakersfield on October 22, 1945. The following year, baby Sharon was born in 1946, however she died in San Francisco in 1949.   

     Alice Konno received many awards in Art and Science and attended Bakersfield College.  She earned a B.A. degree and a teaching credential from University of California, Los Angeles.  Alice was in the 1960-1961 pledge class of the Asian sorority, the "Chi Alpha Delta" during the time she was working on her Master's degree and Administrative credentials at California State University, Los Angeles.    
     In 1964, Alice married James C. Cheng, and they had two children. She worked for 36 years with the Los Angeles Unified School District as an educator, instructional advisor, counselor, dean, and coordinator.  She conducted educational workshops using the visual arts through teaching, and writing curriculum.

     Alice Konno Cheng, died on October 5, 2009 in Pacific Palisades, California.  She is preceded in death by her siblings, Kenichi Richard and her Sharon Kazuye, both who  died in early childhood; and her parents, Hanaye (1962) and  Fred Konno (1973).

      She is survived by sons, Clark Richard (Kristine) Cheng and Robert James Cheng; cousin, Roy Sekine of Bakersfield, Joe Ono, Taeko Joanne (Ono) Iritani, and Takashi Ono.

Sources:

The Bakersfield Californian, October 9, 2009

The Los Angeles Times,  October 8, 2009

http://www.chialphadeltaalumnae.com/sisters.html

HORIKAWA, SHOJIRO

Shojiro Horikawa 1944

     Shojiro Horikawa was born in Fukushima-ken, Japan, on April 5,1889, He attended a foreign language college in Japan before he immigrated to the US. at the age of 17 years through Vermont in March 1908.  He traveled through Canada to Seattle, Washington, where he attended Broadway High School. Later, he went to San Francisco and attended Heald Commercial College.  He was a buyer of stationery and office supplies for the Oriental Steamship Company. 

     In 1925, he married Kinuye, who was born in Nara-ken, Japan on December 18, 1904.  They lived on Sutter Street in San Francisco. Shojiro worked as an official translator for several life insurance companies, and later, he established the Olympic Printing Shop in San Francisco and owned it for 14 years. 

     In the April of 1942, the Horikawa family with sons, Noboru Richard and Jun Herbert were evacuated from Watsonville to the Salinas Assembly Center.  They were moved to the Poston, Arizona internment camp, on July 3, 1942.  Shojiro worked as an interpreter and translator, and became the superintendent of the Poston Print Shop. Later, Shojiro taught in the Adult Education language translating class, and then was elected camp block representative. On November 30, 1943, Noboru Richard Horikawa was granted an educational leave from Poston to attend the Westtown School at Westtown, Pennsylvania. He lived at the school dormitory, and was the captain-elect of the school's basketball team.

     On January 18, 1944,  Shojiro, Kinuye and son, Jun departed from Poston after Shojiro accepted a job to work at the Message Publishing Company printing plant. They lived in an apartment house, and Jun Herbert attended the Friends Select School.

     In February of 1945, Noboru Richard Horikawa was drafted into the US Army and sent to Camp Gorden.  He graduated from the Military Intelligence Language School at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, and was assigned to the Allied Translator Interpreter Service (ATIS) GHQ, Document Section at Tokyo, Japan. His job was to examine and analyze all captured enemy documents and select pertinent documents for micro filming for the Washington DC archive collection. He was discharged as a Tec/5.

Sources: http://www2.hsp.org/collections/Balch%20manuscript_guide/html/japanese.html

http://www.discovernikkei.org/en/resources/military/111/?view=print

http://www.oac.cdlib.org/view?docId=tf596nb4h0&doc.view=items&style=oac4&item.position=4541

NAKAGAWA, KIYOKO (YUKI) (1909-2011)

Kiyoko Nakagawa

     Kiyoko (Yuki) Nakagawa (Poston 318-4-C) was born on January 1, 1909 in Salinas, California to Kumasuke and Miyono Yuki.  Later, the Yuki family moved to San Joaquin County.

     Kiyoko Yuki married a Japanese immigrant,  Ben Tsutomu Nakagawa.  On August 6, 1942,  Kiyoko and Ben were evacuated with their four children, Sumiko, Michiko, Sammy and Midori Nakagawa from Reedley, California to the Poston, Arizona internment camp block 318-4-C. While in Poston, Kiyoko gave birth to Mineko Nakagawa a few months before the family left.  On September 14, 1945 the family finally departed for Reedley, California.

    On October 28, 1952,  Kiyoko gave birth to a son, Shin Steven, who graduated from Alta Elementary and Reedley High School. The Nakagawa family farmed in Reedley. Unfortunately in the fall of 1978,

     Steven Shin Nakagawa perished in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.  In 1984, Ben Tsutomu Nakagawa died at the age of 82 years in Reedley.  Kiyoko remained in Reedley and attended the Poston camp III reunions. 

     In 2005, she moved to Lodi to live with her daughter, and she attended the 2010 Poston camp III reunion in Las Vegas with her family.  At the age of 102, Kiyoko died on August 20, 2011, in Lodi.

2010 Poston III Reunion

     Kiyoko was preceded in death by her husband Ben Tsutomu (1984); son Steven (1978); sisters,  Lois Okamoto, Dorothy Ogino, Martha Imamoto, Irene Sasabuchi, Doris Yamada, and Konami Yuki; brothers, Seizo, Tadashi, and Sam Yuki; and parents, Kumasuke (1962) and Miyono Yuki (1967).

     She is survived by her daughters, Sumi (Paul) Ichuiji of Salinas, Michiye (Masaru) Noda of Lodi, Midori (Larry) Iwasaki of Kingsburg, and Minnie (Dick) Hachiya of Thousand Oaks; son Sammy (Grace) of Reedley; sister, Misao Edith Hiyama; and brother, Richard Yuki.

Source: The Fresno Bee on August 27, 2011

NISHIDA, HARUYE GRACE (KOGA) 1923-2010

Haruye Nishida

     Haruye Grace Koga (Poston318-1-C)  was born in Sanger, California on April 25, 1923. She was the second child of Genzo and Taka Koga.  She grew up in the Del Rey/Reedley area and graduated from Reedley High School in 1942.   

     On August 6, 1942, she was interned with her family at Poston, Arizona block 318-1-C.  She left Poston on August 22, 1945 and went to Dinuba, California, and later in the year, moved to San Francisco where she worked for several years. 

     On June 28, 1953, she married Fred Nishida and together they raised their family in Reedley.  She worked at the Bank of America in Reedley for many years. She died on October 6, 2010, at the age of 87 in Reedley.

     She is survived by her husband Fred; daughter Julia (Dean) Ueda; son, Steven (Susan) Nishida; and brothers, Tsutomu Ben (Midori) Koga and Tom Minoru (Kiki) Koga.

Source: The Fresno Bee

TAMURA, IRENE SHIZUE (HIRATA) 1922-2011

Irene Tamura

     Irene Shizuye Hirata (Poston camp 2) was born in Del Rey, California, on January 5, 1922 to immigrant parents, Yoichi Ben and Izumi (Masuda) Hirata. Irene graduated from Sanger High School and married Iwao Harold Tamura.

    Prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, her brother Richard Yoshito Hirata had enlisted in the U.S. Army on April 24, 1941 in Sacramento.
      On July 13, 1942, Irene, Iwao Harold, and daughter, Diane Tamura were evacuated from Sanger and arrived at the Poston, Arizona internment camp II. On October 5, 1943, her family, with her parents and brothers, and sister Miyuki Lois Hirata and husband, Teruto Ted Yamamoto, were transferred from Poston, Arizona to the Tule Lake Segregation Center. 

     After  the end of World War II, Irene and her family moved to Madera, California in 1950, where they farmed and raised a family.

     Irene Tamura passed away on June 26, 2011, at the age of 89 years.  She was preceded in death by her husband, Harold Tamura; parents, Yoichi  and lzumi Hirata; sister, Lois Miyuki Yamamoto (1994); and brothers,  Richard Yoshito (1997) and Frank Hideo Hirata  (2009).

     She is survived by her daughters, Diane (Raymond) Reeves, III, of Madera, and Charlene (Calvin) Nishinaka of Morro Bay; and brother, Bill Kiyoshi (Mary) Hirata of Reedley.

Source: Fresno Bee on June 29, 2011

ARITA, BARBARA TOSHIE (TSUYUKI) 1917-2010

Barbara Arita

      Barbara Toshie Tsuyuki  (Poston 211-8-D) was born on November 18, 1917, at Acampo, California to immigrant parents, Shohei Frank Tsuyuki and Shin Sone Tsuyuki.   Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Barbara, her father and brothers were evacuated to the Salinas Assembly Center.
     On July 4, 1942, the family was moved to a more permanent location at the Poston, Arizona internment camp block 211-8-D. Her sister, Mrs. Koshizu Ruby Miura,  joined the family at Poston on September 16, 1942 after working at the Turlock Assembly Center as a nurse.  Her brother, Tom Shioji Tsuyuki went on indefinite leave from Poston on November 21, 1942.  He volunteered for and left to attend the Military Intelligence Service  Language School at Camp Savage, Minnesota. Barbara left Poston on May 25, 1943 to resettle at Grosse Point, Michigan.  Her brother Lawrence left Poston on January 11, 1944 to resettle in Caldwell, Idaho, and was followed by her brother Ted Tsuyuki on May 9, 1944, to Caldwell, Idaho.
     Barbara married Masami Arita in Wayne County, Michigan  in 1945.  Later, they moved to  ranch in Sanger, California  and operated the Star Restaurant.  Barbara was a school instructor, and a member of the JACL, and served as an officer with  local flower clubs.  Their family ranch was selected as Sunmaid Raisin’s "Ranch of the Year".  In 2005 after he husband died, Barbara moved to Reedley, where she passed away on May 4, 2010.
     Barbara was preceded in death by her parents;  step-mother, Aiko Tsuyuki; husband, Masami (2005 );  sister, Ruby Koshizu Miura (1987); and brothers, Geary M. Sone (1998),  Larry  R. Tsuyuki (2006),  Tom Sone, and Theodore T.  Tsuyuki.  
Source:http://www.register-pajaronian.com/V2_news_articles.php?heading=0&story_id=8848&page=75