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| Haruko Tsurumoto |
Haruko (Tada) Tsurumoto (Poston
213-10-C) was born on March 24, 1916 in Watsonville, California to Japanese
immigrant farmers, Kumakichi and Hana (Yeguchi) Tada. Her father was 20 years old when he immigrated
to the U.S. from Okayama, Japan in 1900. He had entered the U.S. through Portland, Oregon accompanied by 32
year old Kayemon Tada.
After the bombing of Pearl Harbor and
signing of Executive Order 9066, Kumakichi, Hana, Haruko, Kazue,
Ben, Mary and Richard Tada were forcibly evacuated from
Watsonville and detained at the Salinas Assembly Center. After a few months,
they were incarcerated at the Poston, Arizona concentration camp. They arrived on July 4, 1942 and assigned to camp
2, block 213-10-C. Her sister, Misue Pearl (Tada) Ishimaru and husband,
Fred Yuichi Ishimaru were assigned to Poston block 213-13-F.
In Poston, Haruko's sister, Kazue Tada was in
the Poston County Fair Queen contest, worked
in the camp 2 Recreation Department and
a Brownie Scout Patrol leader.
Her sister, Mary Tada played the short stop position for the
block 213 Terrorettes softball team, and in the 1942 Girls championship softball team. She played a forward for the 213 Terrorettes basketball team,
and was named by the Poston Chronicles in 1943 to the Girls "A" All
Star Selection 1st Team as guard. Mary
was in the class of 1943 and was very active, as she served on the senior class Halloween Party
Committee, Jr /Sr. Prom Entertainment Committee, elected student body Yell Leader, appointed Press
Manager and assisted with the first edition of the Poston 1 High School yearbook. Kazue and Mary both received invitations to
Cheyenne, Wyoming and left Poston, Arizona on July 18, 1944.
Her brother, Ben Tada
had been a member of the Watsonville YBA Orchestra, playing
the saxaphone and trumpet. At Poston,
Ben was the 1st baseman on the Terrors "AA" baseball team. He went on temporary leave from Poston to Grand Junction, Colorado on
August 12, 1943. Ben played the E flat saxaphone for the January
1944 Polio Ball with the Swingmasters Band. Ben received an invitation to
Cleveland, and left Poston in March of 1944.
Haruko Tada went to Denver to join family and
was the first in her family to leave Poston on June 1, 1943, however it was September
10, 1945 before her parents and school-aged brother, Richard left Poston,
Arizona and returned to Watsonville.
While in Denver, Colorado, Haruko Tada met
Shigeru "Sam" Tsurumoto, who was born in 1917, and had been evacuated from
Sebastopol, California to the Merced Assembly Center. Sam had experienced incarceration
at the Amache concentration camp in Colorado. Haruko and Sam were married in Denver, and later resettled to Sebastopol,
where they started a family and operated a small apple ranch. Haruko was a homemaker,
avid gardener, and member of the Enmanji Buddhist Temple.
Haruko Tsurumoto died on February 20, 2012 at
the age of 95. She was preceded in death by her husband, Shigeru
"Sam" Tsurumoto (1979); father, Kumakichi (1962); mother, Hana (1988);
sisters, Misue Pearl Ishimaru (2005), Kazue Tada (2001), and Mary Elizabeth
Otsuki (2001); and brother, Richard Akira Tada (2008).
She is survived by her daughter, Barbara
(Ken) Hayashi; son, Wesley (Nancy) Tsurumoto; grandchildren, Tad (Miko)
Hayashi, Kyle Hayashi, Matthew and Jennifer
Tsurumoto; great-grand children Taiki and Mia Hayashi; sister, Kiyoko Iwami;
and brother, Ben Tsutomu Tada.
Source: Press Democrat from February 26 to
February 27, 2012
