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| Mary Emiko Kusakai |
Mary Emiko Kuwabara (229-14-H) was
born in Sacramento, California, to Taizo and Shinako Kuwabara (Poston
229-12-B). She was the eldest
daughter in a family of seven children, all raised in Sacramento, California. She
graduated from Sacramento High School in 1942. Like other Japanese-Americans of
Japanese ancestry during World War II, she was forced to evacuate to the Pinedale
Assembly Center in Fresno, California, and then to the Poston, Arizona
concentration camp 2.
Mary left the
Poston camp on January 18, 1944 to attend Deaconess Hospital School of Nursing
in St. Louis, Missouri, where she graduated in 1946, as a Registered Nurse. She
worked as a surgical nurse in Oakland and Fresno area hospitals and then in
private surgical practices until she retired. She married Satoshi Kusakai of
Fresno on October 14, 1961. Mary Emiko (Kuwabara) Kusakai died of natural causes at the age of 84 on February 6, 2009. She was preceded in death by her husband, Satoshi Kusakai; brothers, Paul Kuwabara (229-13-H) , George Kuwabara (229-13-H), and Dr. Harry Kuwabara (229-12-B); and brother-in-law, Tommy Kokka (213-12-BC).
She is survived by her sister, Lily (Willy) Suda (229-12-B); sister, Alyce Kokka (229-12-B); brother, Dr. Machi (Janice) Kuwabara (229-12-B); brother-in-law, Hiro (Day) Kusakai ; sisters-in-law, Mary Kuwabara, Alice Kuwabara, and Jan Kuwabara.
