Japanese American travelers visited local sites and Museum
Share
Tweet
Hinds and her nephew, Richie Sasaki, look at some of A.M. Allison's portraits including one of Ron Sasaki, Marilyn's older brother and Richie's father. Ron Sasaki was one year old when his family moved to Montana. Allison likely took this photo when Ron was two or three years old. (center) Matt Sasaki, Lefty Sasaki's grandson, looks over his "cousins" shoulders at the photos
About 30 Japanese Americans recently stopped for a visit to the Blaine County Museum. The multi-generational group had traveled to this area for a reunion of the Sasaki, Yoshida and Arakawa families. Those three families were among several Japanese American families who came to north central Montana to work on local farms during WWII. Some of the senior members of the group were children when their parents came to do farm work and several attended local schools.
The group was especially interested in the Blaine County Museum's collection of photographs from that era taken by local pioneer photographer A.M. Allison. There were several gasps and giggles when portraits of parents, aunts, uncles, siblings and other relatives were recognized among the copies of photos that museum director Sam French was able to print and show the group.
The group told they have held reunions in the past to visit local farms where they (the older group who were children during the war) lived or were born when their parents came to work on the farms. Several relatives of the Sasaki family still live in the Havre area. The two patriarchs of that family that came here during the war were Tad and "Lefty" Sasaki.
Before coming to the Museum the group had traveled to Justin and Mariah Kellam's farm in the valley to see the "red shed." Some of the group said they were delighted to see not only was the shed still standing but it had been repainted by the Kellams. The shed, really a garage, was where Tad and Kinu (Yoshida) Sasaki lived when they first arrived to the area to work in the sugar beets during WWII. The farm was owned by the John Matheson family who had earlier homesteaded in the area.
Over the years the descendants and children of the original Japanese families have revisited the farms and the area making certain the younger generation understands the significance of the area to the families. Marilyn (Sasaki) Hinds, the oldest daughter of the Sasaki family that lived in the red shed, recalled it was very rough living when they arrived.
Matt Sasaki, grandson of Lefty Sasaki who lived west of Chinook nearer Havre, said the group was already planning another 'reunion' in a couple of years to visit the places the families lived. He added, "The original children of the families who came are now aging. We decided we needed to make the reunions more frequently so we don't lose what the elders can share with us." Matt lives in Havre. His dad was Larry who died a few years ago. Locals may remember Larry who worked for Torgeson's before he retired.
