Karen Morioka: Hi. My name is Karen Morioka, and I'm here on behalf of my parents, Takeshi Yamashita and Haruko Yamashita. Takeshi, my dad, also known as Tak, was born in Alameda on May 30, 1915. He was the eldest son of Moriji and Yoshida Yamashita, who had three sons and one daughter. My mother, Haruko Yamashita, formerly a Takeda, and also called Haru, was also born in Alameda on January 29, 1920. And she was the second daughter of Risaburo and Shizu Takeda, and one of six children. Both of my parents graduated from Alameda High School, and both families were very active in the Alameda Buddhist Temple. Dad attended Heald College after high school. He was quite artistic and drew pictures of engines for the college industrial training, which resulted in his tuition being waived.

My parents were married on March 10, 1940. Dad was a mechanic, worked for a Mr. Rubutani, who owned a garage in Alameda. Mom did domestic housekeeping. They bought their first home soon after they were married, and their first daughter Ann was born in January of 1942. Less than six months later, when the war broke out, they had to comply with Executive Order 9066. They went to Sanger to be with my dad's brother Sak and his family, so they could all relocate together. They were sent to camp in Gila, Arizona. There were two camps there, Butte and Canal. They were at the Canal Camp where Uncle Sak was a cook in the mess hall.

After a year in camp, when Dad went to the camp employment office, he received three job offers as a mechanic. One in Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. He chose Madison, Wisconsin, to be a mechanic for Kaiser Motors and worked on Chryslers, Mercuries and Fords. He chose Wisconsin since he was an avid reader of Field and Stream magazine, and he knew there were lots of lakes and good fishing there. That was one of his passions. He would fish every evening after work.

From camp, Mom, pregnant with me, and with my sister Ann, took the train to Wisconsin to join them. I was born in Madison in January of 1944. Another child, my brother Jeff, was born in Madison in September of 1945. Jess passed away at age thirty, in 1975 of leukemia. In 1945 when the war was over, they returned to Alameda and bought a house on Buena Vista across the street from the Buddhist Temple, which housed many of the displaced returning families. Dad built a huge cinderblock garage behind their home with the help of his friend, Hal Hanamura, and he became a self-employed mechanic serving the Japanese community in Alameda and Oakland. Then in 1955 he passed a civil service exam and became a heavy duty mechanic for the county working on tractors, patrol cars, and county vehicles. In his spare time, he enjoyed photography and developed many photos in a makeshift darkroom in our kitchen. I have fond memories of actually getting to see if the images appear in the developing trays. Mom would hang them up across the kitchen with clothespins to dry.

Mom was an excellent cook, having prepared fancy meals for her clients. When the new Macy's Bayfair store opened in San Leandro in the late '50s, she was thrilled to be hired as a saleswoman in the drapery department. After twenty-five years, she was crowned first Miss Macy salesperson at a storewide celebration, but she was very embarrassed to tell the family. She worked there until she retired in 1978. She loved sewing and made clothes throughout our childhood for Ann and me. She made elaborate Halloween costumes, fairytale dolls and, of course, draperies and curtains.

Dad retired at age sixty-one after twenty years with the county. In retirement, both parents enjoyed playing golf, poker, bowling and trout. They visited Hawaii, Japan, and Europe. On March 10, 1990, they celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary with a big celebration with friends and relatives. Actually, the city declared that day as the Tak and Haru Yamashita Day. Then, seven months later while playing golf, Mom suffered a brain aneurysm and passed away in the hospital ten days later. She was only seventy years old. In the year 2000, Dad suffered a mild heart attack, and at age eighty-five, survived quadruple bypass surgery. He stayed in his home in Alameda for another five years, spending most of his time taking BART to San Francisco, to Kimochi senior organization. He ate lunch there and played mahjong and even went line dancing Friday afternoons. He then moved to San Francisco to Kokoro, which is an assisted living home where he currently resides. My daughter, her husband and son now live in the Alameda home where I grew up, and my grandson also goes to Haight school, which was my alma mater.

Today, my sister Ann is married and lives in Saratoga. She has three daughters and four grandsons. They're all married, and I am married, living in El Cerrito, have a daughter and son. They're both married, and each have a son, so my dad has six great grandsons. Until recently, Dad drove a four wheel scooter to the neighborhood Walgreens. But at age ninety-six, he only goes out with us maybe once a week to his favorite place, KFC, and occasionally to Chinese food with my sister. He's able to get around well with a walker, and though forgetful at times, he's very content with his relaxing lifestyle in his apartment at Kokoro.