Midori Hirotsu was born on December 18, 1918 in Walnut Grove, California
to Kikunoshin and Ichi Yamamoto. Her father was the proprietor of a Tailor
Shop. Midori graduated from Courtland Union High School in 1936.
Midori
married Mikoto Harry Yamamoto in Salinas, CA in 1942, and they were evacuated to the Salinas Assembly Center
following the signing of Executive Order 9066.
They were relocated on July 5, 1942 to the Poston Arizona concentration
camp at block 215-4-C. In 1943, Midori gave birth to a son, Kiyoshi Glenn, while
at Poston. In August 1943, the Yamamoto family
departed from Poston, Arizona after Harry found outside employment on a farm in
Havre, Montana.
The Yamamoto family later relocated
to Chicago, and Joyce was born in 1944. Midori raised her family in Chicago and
worked as a seamstress in their family-owned dry cleaning business. She spent her
later years in Skokie and Palatine. Midori Yamamoto, age 93, passed away on
Monday, April 23, 2012. She was
predeceased by her husband, Mikoto Harry (1976).
She is survived by her brother,
Gary (Aggie) Hirotsu; her son, Glenn (Linda) Yamamoto; daughter, Joyce (Ronald)
Yoshino
Source: Published in Chicago
Tribune on April 26, 2012
