NVC Foundation Japanese American Memorial Wall

Satoko "Sachi" Hori (Iwasaki) was born in Yokohama, Japan. Sachi was actually born sometime in January 1920. When her mother, Haru, applied for a passport on 6/25/1920 in Japan, Sachi was 5 months old. Sachi and her mom arrived in San Francisco on 9/22/1920. Sachi's dad, Tokusaburo, didn't know her actual date of birth, so he gave her his date of birth which is November 20, and the year 1919. So, Sachi has used 11/20/1919 as her DOB. Sachi became a naturalize citizen on 6/8/1953. Sachi grew up in Bryn Mawr where her dad owned a greenhouse. Sachi had 10 brothers and sisters and their names in order were; Molly, Chika, Sachi, Sammy, Seiko, Michiko, George, Toshi, Johnny, Gabby, and Mary. Sachi went to Bryn Mawr Elementry School to the 8th grade, and then went to Franklin High School and graduated in 1938. Out of a graduating class of 600, Sachi was in the top ten. Sachi was offered a scholarship to go to Washington State College(now University), but her dad would not let her go. Sachi had to stay and work at the greenhouse. Sachi did attend Wilson Business School in 1939 for about 6-8 weeks. During the years 1938/39/40, Sachi would watch her brother Sammy play baseball down in Orillia, Wa. Sammy played in the A division, and Jack Hori played in the AA division, so Sachi didn't really know too much about Jack, but knew Jack's brother George because he played with Sammy in the A Division. In 1941, Sammy moved up to the AA Division, and Sachi got to know Jack more, since he was the pitcher and Sammy was the catcher. Jack went into US Army on 10/14/1941, and Sachi corresponded with Jack writing letters. Sachi was living at the greenhouse when the war broke out, and the family was sent to Pine Dale Assembly Center in Fresno, California. Sachi was there between May 1942 to July 1942, and then went to Tule Lake from July 1942 to May 1943. Sachi then left for San Antonio, Texas, and married Jack, who was stationed at Fort Sam Houston, on 6/7/1943. Jack left for Camp Savage's language and military school in December, 1943, and then left for overseas in June 1944. Sachi returned to the Minidoka Internment Camp where the Iwasaki family was. While in camp, Sachi gave birth to a son Jack(Jay)on 2/8/1944. With her parents and Jay, they returned to Bryn Mawr either April or May of 1945. Sachi stayed at the greenhouse until Jack got discharged from the Army in January, 1946. Sachi and Jack opened a small grocery store down in Renton in Feb 1947. On December 29, 1947, son Michael was born. On March 24, 1949, daughter Cathy was born. Sachi and Jack gave up the store in July 1956, and got a house in the Bryn Mawr area in August 1956. After leaving the store in 1956, and moving into a house, Sachi started to work for Ernst Hardware in downtown Seattle during the holidays and worked there until Feb 1958. Sachi worked for the Renton Business School from wintertime of 1958 to Jan 1959. In Feb 1959, Sachi started to work for the Borden Chemical Company down in the Georgetown area off Airport Way S. Then, in 1961 they moved to the Norton Building in downtown Seattle for several years, and then moved to the Tally Building in Bellevue in 1970. Sachi retired from the Borden Chemical Company on July 1, 1985. Sachi loved to work in her yard, and had it looking like a park until the day she sold the house and bought a condo in 2003. As of this writing, Feb 2011, Sachi is still living at her condo at the very young age of 91.