Chiyeko "Mary" Hamada (Poston 216-10-B ) was born in Penryn, California on August 20, 1917 to Choichi and Takino Hamada, Japanese immigrants, who arrived in the U.S. in 1910. The Hamada family moved to Watsonville when Mary was a teen-ager. In 1940, Mary married Masao Sukekane who was born in November 1, 1909 in Santa Cruz County, California.
After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Mary and Masao Sukekane were evacuated to the Salinas Assembly Center from their home in Watsonville, and later transported to more permanent living quarters in the desert at the Poston, Arizona internment camp block 216-10-B on July 3, 1942. Takeshi Sukekane was born the following year at the Poston General Hospital. On December 4, 1944, Masao obtained employment and took his family out of Poston to resettle in Twin Falls, Idaho.
The Sukekane family returned to Watsonville after the end of WW II. Mary was a bookkeeper for the family's strawberry and vegetable farm. She gave birth to baby John Masaru on December 16, 1955 and he died on April 11, 1956.
Mary Sukekane was a member of the Watsonville Buddhist Temple and the Fujinkai, the Watsonville Buddhist Women's Association. Her husband, Masao Sukekane died on January 6, 1985 in Watsonville. Mary Sukekane, resident of Watsonville, died on June 15, 2002 at the age of 84 years. Mary was preceded in death by her husband of 45 years, Masao Sukekane (1985); son John Sukekane (1956); and brothers, Minoru M. (1977) and Kiyoto "George" Hamada (1983).
She is survived by a son, Takeshi "Tak" Sukekane of Watsonville; brothers, Richard Hamada of Loomis and Teruo Hamada of Watsonville; and sister, Satoyo Makishima of Seattle.
Primary source: http://www.genealogybuff.com/ca/santacruz/webbbs_config.pl/read/54
