YOSHITAKE, JUNE ASAKO (IWATA) 1934-2011

June Yoshitake

June Asako (Iwata) Yoshitake (307-3-A) was born June 11, 1934, in Kingsburg, California, the second of four children of Harvey and Akiko Iwata (Poston 307-3-A).  She grew up in Dinuba, California. During World War II, she and her family were relocated to the Poston, Arizona concentration camp 3 and arrived on August 3, 1942.  Her father left camp on May 7, 1943 to work at Fort Savage, Minnesota.  The rest of the family left Poston in October, 1943 and went to Cleveland, Ohio.

     As a youth, June was active in softball and other sports, and a high school cheerleader.  In 1955, she met her future husband, George Yoshitake of Los Angeles, at a Japanese American Citizens League dance in Washington, D.C. They were married on April 7, 1957, in Washington, D.C., and had three children: Steve, Dawn and Glen.

      The Yoshitake family lived in Los Angeles and Montebello from 1957-66, later moving to Lompoc, California where she lived the rest of her life. June was a homemaker, and after her children graduated from high school, June worked as a special education teacher's aide in Lompoc for 15 years and retired in 1987.
      June was a member of the Valley of the Flowers UCC Church in Lompoc for 43 years. She taught Sunday School there and on the Board of Trustees. She served as a Hospice of Lompoc volunteer for about 10 years and an active member of the Santa Maria Japanese Community Center. June and George celebrated their 50th anniversary in April 2007 with their children and family on the Big Island of Hawaii.

      June Asako Yoshitake died on January 21, 2011 in Santa Barbara.  She was 76. She was preceded in death by her parents.

     She is survived by her husband of 53 years, George Yoshitake; three children, Steve Yoshitake, Santa Barbara, Dawn Kawamoto, Albany, Calif., Glen Yoshitake, San Diego; her sisters, Irene Enokida, Springfield, Va., Shirley Ross, Woodbridge, Va., and brother, Harvey Iwata, Richmond, Va.

Source: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/lompocrecord/obituary.aspx?n=june-asako-yoshitake&pid=148074729#fbLoggedOut

HARRIS, Arthur L. PhD (1903-2001)

     Dr. Arthur Lee Harris was born on  4/21/1903 in Carthage, Illinois to  Ernest and Grace (Arthur) Harris.  Dr. Harris was principal of McKinley High in Honolulu, Hawaii, and former high school principal of Poston camp I.  Later, he became the Director of Education for the Poston internment camp in Arizona.  While working at Poston, he met his future wife, the former Catherine Embree, a high school teacher in Poston camp I and II. 

     They were married in the fall of 1945 in Chicago, and returned to Poston to finish closing the camp.  The married couple traveled to Washington DC, where Dr. Harris took a position with the United States Office of Education while they lived in Virginia for nearly 20 years.  In 1966, Dr. Harris served as the United States Associate Commissioner of the Bureau of Elementary and Secondary Education.  By 1969, they moved to Honolulu, Hawaii where he retired and later died on 9/3/2001.

Dr. Harris is survived by wife, Catherine; sons, Robert, David, McLaren; four grandchildren; a great-grandchild

CRAWFORD, James D. (1908-1975)

Director of Poston Camp II

James D. Crawford

     James Daniel Crawford was born June 23, 1908 in Routt, Colorado, located near Steamboat Springs to John D. and Minnie Crawford.  His father was a county clerk of Routt County for many years, and his grandfather, James Harvey Crawford, founder of Steamboat Springs.  
      After graduating from Steamboat Springs High School, James attended the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1931 with a major in geology. He went to California and in 1933 he married Emogene Harrison of Inglewood, California. James spent the Depression years working for the Federal Works Progress Administration, first in Lakeport, California (100 miles north of San Francisco)  where he drew mining claim maps for the Recorder's Office in Lake County, and later in San Francisco,  where he was assigned to the California Division of Mines to help complete the California geologic map published in 1938.
      In 1938, James Crawford obtained permanent employment with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).  He was assigned to the United Pueblos Agency in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he conducted  the 1940 U. S. Census on the Indian reservations in the area. His wife, Emogene died of heart problems due to childhood rheumatic fever. 

     James Crawford married Hildegard Ruth Stoeckly of Garden City, Kansas, who he had met at college. Their first daughter, Nancy, was born in 1941. 

     In May of 1942, James transferred to Poston, Arizona and he arrived on May 4th, four days before the first Japanese internees arrived. Initially, James lived for 10 days in Parker, a boom town holding 2,400 construction workers. For the first two months, he worked in Intake/Registration until he was promoted to Director of Unit II (Poston camp II) under Wade Head.  James became the first person to live at Unit II (Poston camp II)  when he took a cot and blanket on July 1, 1942 and used one of the barracks where he could see the stars.  
     At the end of July, 1942, his wife Ruth and daughter Nancy joined him. The Crawford family lived in two office rooms in one of the administration buildings in Unit II for about 5 months then moved to Building 28 in the personnel housing area.

      At  the end of 1943 when control of Poston was transferred  from the BIA to the War Relocation Authority (WRA), James Crawford was appointed Relocation Program Officer for all three units (Poston camps).
     In September, 1944, Sharon was born to James and Ruth Crawford, one week before James left Poston to become the BIA superintendent at the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in Belcourt, North Dakota.  He held similar positions at the Hopi Reservation in Arizona and the Fort Peck reservation in Montana.

     James Crawford ended his 32-year career with the BIA working in the area office in Billings, Montana as Community Development Officer, which was involved primarily with the schools on the Indian reservations in Montana and Wyoming. Two more children were born to James and Ruth Crawford.
      James Crawford was an elder of the First Presbyterian Church of Billings, Montana. He was an active member of the Lions Club and three times received the Distinguished Service Award. He served in local, state, and national capacities with the Boy Scouts of America and served on the board of the Girl Scout Council. James was also active in the Billings Archaeological Society and the Billings Garden Club and was an enthusiastic stamp collector.

     At the age of 67 years, Mr. Crawford died of cancer on July 28, 1975 in Montana. His wife, Ruth died in 2004 in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

Submitted by: Jim L. Crawford, son of James D. Crawford