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| Shuki Hayashi |
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Shuki
Hayashi (Poston 213-7-D) was born February 1, 1918 in the Salinas Valley to
Japanese immigrant parents. He had four sisters, a brother, and a
half-brother. As a boy, he loved roaming along the Salinas River with his cousin,
Chick, later recounting that he knew the river “like a book,” one that was
rewritten with each annual flood. Fascinated by mechanical and electrical
devices, he learned to repair pocket watches, automobiles and radios. He also conducted
electrical experiments (some on his sisters). After high school, he earned an
A.A. in Engineering from Salinas Junior College and worked as a tractor driver,
irrigator and tiller of soil. One day, while driving a tractor, he figured out
a design for an automatic transmission. Encouraged by an Engineer at University
of California Extension, he initiated a patent search which, unfortunately,
turned up a standing patent on the design.
In 1940, Shuki Hayashi entered the University of
California, Berkeley, changing his major from Electrical Engineering to Physics
after an adviser told him that a person of Asian descent would not get work as
an Engineer. His senior year was interrupted by WWII and the outbreak of
anti-Japanese hysteria. He returned once more to the Salinas River to bury
family heirlooms out of fear the family would be tied to the Japanese war
effort.
Shuki Hayashi was
evacuated to the Salinas Assembly Center with his widowed mother, Mrs. Kazuko
Hayashi, and his siblings, Masa, Michi, Yuki, Tadao, and Osame. They were
transported to the Poston, Arizona concentration camp II and arrived on July 5,
1942. At Poston, Shuki Hayashi met his future wife, Miss Marian Lind,
Supervisor of the Poston Nursery Schools. Shuki was a Poston Camp II High
School Physics and Math Instructor. He took a short-term leave on June 15, 1943
from Poston and went to Milford, Utah. He left Poston on June 25, 1943 to begin
active military service. He served with the Cannon Company of the 442nd
Regimental Combat Team. Shuki and Marian courted by mail for the duration of
World War II, while Shuki served in Italy and France, was injured and received
a Purple Heart. He returned to Chicago in 1946, where his family had
relocated. Shuki married Miss Marian Lind on March 7, 1946.
For two years, Shuki Hayashi was a Research Assistant
for the Manhattan Project at the University of Chicago. In 1948, he returned to
Berkeley, California to resume his education and by1956 earned a Ph.D. in
Biophysics. Shuki and Marian Hayashi had four children, and in 1958, the
family moved to Davis, California, where Shuki was a Research Biophysicist and
Acting Assistant Professor of Physics at the University of
California, Davis campus. From 1964 to 1988, he was a Professor of Physics
at the California State University, Sacramento campus.
Shuki
Hayashi's retirement years were occupied by travel with his wife, Marian, home improvement
(on his children’s homes), woodworking, enjoying grandchildren and lots of
reading. In 2012, he was proud to receive the Congressional Gold Medal
with his comrades from the 442nd RCT. He will be remembered for always speaking
his mind, his wide-ranging interests and knowledge base, an amazing memory and
his ability to connect with people from all walks of life. Those who knew him
on a daily basis are all the wiser about the evils of plastic and the virtues
of Watco Danish Oil Finish.
Shuki Hayashi died unexpectedly on November 29,
2013. He was predeceased by half-brother Riuzo Minejima; brother Tadao
(killed in action during the final days of WWII); and sisters Michi (Kato),
Masa (Aoki) and Yuki (Fujimoto).
He is
survived by wife, Marian; sister, Osame (Doi); children, Ann, Keith, Carla and
Eric, and their spouses and children.
Source: Sacramento Bee, December 15, 2013
