KOKORO KARA from our heart WINTER/SPRING 2021 H EART • M O U N TA I N • W YO M ING • F O U N DAT I O N KOKORO KARA TABLE OF CONTENTS Volume 10, Issue 1 Editor/Designer: Kate Wilson Board Chair’s Column ..................................................................................3 Have an idea for an article? Executive Director’s Column ........................................................................5 Would you like to be a contributing writer? We’re interested! Write to Kate Wilson CURRENT EVENTS: with your story ideas—these could include In Memoriam ................................................................................................4 a profile of a former incarceree, a specific aspect of the Japanese American experience Mineta-Simpson Institute Corner.................................................................4 before/during/after the war, or an act of kindness from a non-incarceree, Welcome to New Staff Member: Deni Hirsh ................................................5 just to name a few. Virtual Field Trip ..........................................................................................6 [email protected] Dorothy Itsuko Tsuruda: Not Forgotten .......................................................7 Change of address? 2021 Day of Remembrance ..........................................................................8 Contact Deni Hirsh to update your contact information and for questions regarding New Podcast: Look Toward the Mountain ...................................................9 membership & donations. [email protected] HEART MOUNTAIN 307-754-8000, ext. 102 FEATURES: WYOMING FOUNDATION Japanese American Pioneers of Wyoming ................................................. 13 Heart Mountain Interpretive Center Board of Directors Pioneers of the Bighorn Basin ........................................................... 15 Staff Shirley Ann Higuchi, Chair Douglas W. Nelson, Vice-Chair Pioneers of Rock Springs ....................................................................20 Dakota Russell Claudia Wade, Treasurer Dusted Off: Highlights from the Collection ...............................................23 Executive Director Aura Sunada-Matsumura Newlin, Secretary Cally Steussy Ann Burroughs Eric Sandeen 2020 Members & Donors............................................................................27 Museum Manager Kris M. Horiuchi Peter K. Simpson Takashi Hoshizaki Marc Sugiyama Deni Hirsh Julia Ishiyama Prentiss Uchida Membership & Development Manager Darrell Kunitomi Shigeru Yabu Sam Mihara Kathleen Saito Yuille Brandon Daake Lia Nitake LaDonna Zall R. Dana Ono Registrar Honorary Advisors Kate Wilson Communications & Design Consultant Norman Y. Mineta Alan K. Simpson Former U.S. Secretary of U.S. Senator (ret.) Julie Abo Commerce and Transportation Page 20 Washington Affairs Director, Office of the Chair Advisory Council Nancy Araki Ben Murphy Ray Locker William I. Higuchi James Murphy Editorial Consultant Jon Hoshizaki Allyson Nakamoto Alan Kumamoto Naomi Oshita Page 9 Page 7 Jill Ross Amy Mass Bacon Sakatani Bookkeeper Jim McElwain Carolyn Takeshita Jeanette Misaka Raymond Uno Guest Services: Check out the magazine page on our Danielle Constein, Sharyl McDowell, website to read all past issues of Kokoro Kara! Anna Clifton, & Marla Barngrover Cover image The Ujifusa Family on their Washakie County, WY farm. www.heartmountain.org/kokoro-kara-magazine Read about the Ujifusas and other pioneers on page 13. Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah 1 2 It is time to honor the commitment of Norman Mineta and Alan Simpson In Memoriam Chair Shirley Ann Higuchi Miyeko (Mickey) Azeka Kubota (1922–2021) ickey Azeka Kubota kabuki dramas at Heart Mountain. In photos of these plays, rom the moment the creators of the Heart Mountain institutional donors, including passed away on she is often heavily made up as a male protagonist. “I always Wyoming Foundation first discussed building national philanthropies and M F January 6 after a short took man’s part,” Azeka later recalled in the documentary something at the former site of the camp, Norman Mineta other institutions like the illness. During her time at Hidden Legacy. “Never took women’s part. Man’s part was and Alan Simpson were there. Norm and Al initially met National Endowment for Heart Mountain, Mickey fun to do, anyway.” Mickey’s father, Taketaro Azeka, was at the camp as Boy Scouts in 1943. Norm was a young the Humanities. In May, was known as an avid known for his poetry, and carved one of his haiku into Heart Mountain incarceree from San Jose, and Al was part we applied for a large NEH performer. She helped a large stone which he buried at Heart Mountain before of the lone scout troop that visited the camp to meet their infrastructure grant that organize and lead the leaving the camp. It was later discovered by homesteader Japanese American counterparts. Many years later, Norm will provide critical help dancers at the camp’s Bon LaVerne Solberg. Mickey helped to facilitate Solberg’s and Al would reunite while serving in the US Congress. in finishing the institute. Odori festival and was a donation of the stone to Heart Mountain, so it could be Though they belonged to different political parties, they Of course, we will also be Photo by Brian Smyer Photo by regular player in traditional seen by visitors from around the world. often crossed the aisle to work together, including to build turning, as we always have, George & Frank Hirahara Collection, support for Japanese American redress. to individuals and families Washington State University Norm and Al’s ability to keep partisan blinders off who believe in the mission of the Foundation and in the while working on solutions for all Americans was a model leadership legacies of Alan Simpson and Norm Mineta. for good governance while they served in Congress. It is To advance our fundraising efforts, we have created also the inspiring legacy we hope to honor by creating the a steering committee consisting of leaders from our Mineta-Simpson Institute at Heart Mountain. The Institute foundation, the greater Wyoming community, and across will expand our facilities at Heart Mountain Interpretive the country. Ann Simpson and Deni Mineta, who know Grant Will Help Create Center and allow us to develop new programming that the most about the contributions of Al and Norm, are will take our mission beyond Wyoming and out to the honorary co-chairs, working with two board members, Online Interactive Map of Camp rest of the world. As we start the serious work of raising Kathleen Saito Yuille, who was born at Heart Mountain, money to build the Institute, it is more important than and Claudia Wade, longtime leader of the Park County ever to remember and lift up what Norm and Al have Travel Council. done for our country and our Foundation. Our ancestors came to the United States with visions he LDS Foundation, the charitable arm of the Heart Mountain board members Lia Nitake We hope to hold our ribbon-cutting for the Institute of a better future for themselves and their families. And Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints, and Prentiss Uchida conceived the project, in two years. We have already received a generous while those dreams were tragically derailed in 1942, our T has awarded us a $25,000 grant to begin work on an together with Executive Director Dakota Russell contribution from the family foundation of Margot Walk, community has endured and thrived even in the face of exciting new project to trace the journeys of Heart and Editorial Consultant Ray Locker. Floyd whose father Maurice resigned from his position as a continuing bigotry. Like Al and Norm, we still believe in C Mountain incarcerees and their families. Mori, former president of the Japanese American lawyer for the War Relocation Authority in protest over the promise of the American dream. This grant will fund the first stages of creating Citizens League, connected Heart Mountain with the government’s treatment of Japanese Americans during Over the course of the coming year, we will be sharing an interactive online map, showing where each the LDS Foundation. Mori, a member of the Latter O World War II. The Aratani Foundation has also stepped in more details with you about our plans for the Mineta- incarcerated family lived while in camp, where they Day Saints church, lives in Salt Lake City, where with a major gift. Margot was part of our initial efforts Simpson Institute. We will also be asking for your help in lived before incarceration, and where they went the foundation is headquartered. to build the interpretive center, while Linda—whose raising the necessary funds to make those plans a reality. afterward. When completed, this project will show the R father George was incarcerated at the camp in Gila River, We hope our members and supporters will join us in sweep of our community and its connections around Arizona—has been a champion for the development of donating to honor Norm and Al’s joint rejection of hate the world. The first phase of the project will involve our site and of our ability to reach larger audiences and and shared commitment to justice, the Constitution, and N creating a digital database of all Heart Mountain educate them about the incarceration. human rights. incarcerees, using records from the National Archives The support of these two major donors, along with Stay inspired, and our own archives. INSTITUTE substantial pledges from every member of our