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| Fumi Tajii |
Fumi (Fujimoto) Taji (308-5-A)
was born in December, 1927 in Arroyo Grande, California to Japanese immigrant
vegetable farmers, Bunzo and Hatsume Fujimoto. Her father immigrated to the
U.S. in 1906, and her mother immigrated in 1919.
Following the
bombing of Pearl Harbor, her family voluntarily evacuated from Arroyo Grande which
was in Military Zone 1 and temporarily resettled in Orange Cove. Her father,
Bunzo was picked up by the FBI and incarcerated at the Bismarck, North Dakota
Department of Justice internment camp. Several months later however, the family was forced to evacuate with people of Japanese
ancestry living in the eastern Fresno County and Tulare County area to the Poston, Arizona concentration camp
3.
Hatsume, Kenji
Albert and Toku arrived at Poston (308-5-A) on August 4, 1942. Kingo
Frank and Fumi arrived at Poston on August 11, 1942. Her father, Bunzo was finally
granted parole and joined his family at Poston on August 17, 1942. While at
Poston, Fumi was a member of the Girls League, and graduated with the Parker
Valley High School class in 1945.
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| Parker Valley High School Class of 1945 |
Photo: Fumi Taji is seated third from the left.
Photo courtesy of Wayne Koga.
Kingo Frank and Keji Albert Fujimoto left
Poston and went to Santa Fe, New Mexico on September 9, 1945. While at the Santa Fe internment camp, they
met Gengo Tajii, who later would become Fumi's husband.
Fumi, her parents, and sister Toku, left Poston on September 24,
1945 and went to resettle in the Santa
Barbara area. Fumi found employment as a housekeeper in Los Angeles, and her brothers
went to work picking grapes in Fresno with Gengo Tajii and his brother. Later,
the Fujimoto and Tajii families relocated to Morgan Hill, to sharecrop
strawberries.
Fumi Fujimoto and Gengo Tajii were married in 1950 and
settled in San Jose. They purchased 10
acres of land and raised strawberries and harvested prunes. Fumi gave birth to five
children. Her son John died at birth and her daughter Sharon died at the age of
five. As the family grew, it was determined they could not rely on farming to
achieve financial security. The ranch was
sold in 1964 and they moved to Santa Rosa. Gengo became general manager for Country
Garden Nursery and in 1970 became a landscape manager for Cagwin and Dorward in
Santa Rosa, with his work frequently featured at the Sonoma County Fair.
Fumi Taji was a
member of the Enmanji Buddhist Temple in Sebastopol, the Sonoma County Japanese
American Citizens League, and a board member of Enman No Tomo committee. She
was a longtime Santa Rosa resident, and died at the age of 84 years, on August 27, 2012, following a long battle with liver
disease. She was predeceased by her husband Gengo (2000); father Bunzo (1972);
mother, Hatsume (1992); son, John (1960), and daughter Sharon (1959); and brother,
Frank Kingo (2011).
She is survived
by her daughter, Phyllis (Henry) Kaku of Petaluma, and Donna Tajii of Elk Grove;
son, Ronald (Janet) Tajii of Torrance; brother, Albert Fujimoto; and sister, Toku
Matsumoto.
Source:
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20120902/ARTICLES/120909965/1036/business?Title=Fumi-Tajii
