Satoko Hori

Satoko “Sachi” Hori (Iwasaki) was born in Yokohama, Japan, sometime in January, 1920. Mom’s mother, Haru, applied for a passport on 6/25/1920 in Japan and on the application was written that she was with her daughter that was 5 months old. They arrived in the United States on 9/22/1920 in San Francisco. Mom’s dad, Tokusaburo, didn’t know mom’s date of birth, so he registered her at school with his date of birth of November 20 and the year 1919. So that is how she ended up with the DOB of 11/20/1919. Mom became a naturalize citizen on 6/8/1953.

Mom had 10 brothers and sisters in this order; Molly, Chika, Mom, Sammy, Seiko, Michiko, George, Toshi, Johnny, Gabby, and Mary. They all preceded mom in death, and she was the lone survivor until she passed on 11/30/2021. They all lived at the Bryn Mawr Greenhouse that Jichan owned, except for Gabby and Mary, who were adopted out, but still stayed in contact with the family. Mom went to Byrn Mawr Elementary School to the 8th grade, and then went to Franklin High School and graduated in 1938. Her graduating class was about 600, and Mom was in the top ten of the class. Mom was offered a scholarship to go to Washington State College (now Washington State University), but Jichan wouldn’t let her go, so she had to refuse it. Jichan wanted her to work at the greenhouse, because girls didn’t need to go to college. During the summer time in 1939, Mom went to Wilson Business School in downtown Seattle for 6-8 weeks.

During the years from 1938 to 1940, Mom used to go and watch Sammy play baseball down in Orillia area (between Renton and Kent). Mom never met dad, but saw him playing. Dad played for the Double A Team (top team), and Sammy played for the A Team. Dad’s brother, George, played with Uncle Sammy’s team, so mom knew dad’s brother before she knew him. When Uncle Sammy went to play for the Double A Team with Dad in 1941 that is when mom met dad. Dad was a pitcher, and Sammy was a catcher. Mom says Dad was very popular with the girls because he was the star pitcher on the team. But, Dad took a liking to Mom, and they started to date. Dad went into the Army in October 1941, and they wrote letters to each other staying in contact. Mom was living at the Bryn Mawr Greenhouse with her family when the war with Japan broke out. They were sent to Pine Dale Assembly Center in Fresno, California, and stayed there from May 1942 to July 1942. The family then went to Tule Lake, and was there from July 1942 to May 1943. At some time, Mom left and went to San Antonio, Texas, where Dad was stationed at Fort Sam Houston. Mom stayed off base and worked in a flower shop that was owned by a Mrs. Chandler, who was very good to mom. Mom and Dad got married in the Fort Sam Houston Chapel on 6/7/1943. In December 1943, Mom left San Antonio, and went to Minidoka (Hunt, Idaho) Internment Camp where Jichan and the family were. In January 1944, Dad went to Camp Savage Military Intelligence/Police School in Minnesota, and then went over seas around the end of June 1944. While in camp, Mom gave birth to Jay on February 8, 1944. Then around April or May of 1945, Mom, Jichan and family went back to Bryn Mawr. Mom stayed at the greenhouse until Dad got discharged from the Army on January 4, 1946. Dad and Mom stayed at the greenhouse until February 1947, and that is when they opened a small grocery store down in Renton. In December, 1947, Michael was born on the 29th, and later, Cathy was born on March 24, 1949. Dad came down with tuberculosis in September 1954, and had to go to Firlands Sanitarium Hospital. In the summer of 1955, Dad got released from the hospital, and came back to the store. Because of Dad’s condition, they had to give up the store, so they started to sell the equipment, and left the store in July 1956. We stayed at the greenhouse for a short time, and moved into the house at 8542 S. 121st St. Seattle, in August 1956.

After leaving the store in 1956, and moving into the house, mom started working for Ernst Hardware in downtown Seattle at 6th and Pike sometime around Nov 1956 during the Christmas Holidays, and worked there until Feb 1958. During the winter time of 1958, mom worked for the Renton Business School until Jan 1959. In Feb 1959, mom started to work for the Borden Chemical Company down in Georgetown, off of Airport Way South as a secretary and stenographer. In 1960 is when she started to work for an engineer by the name of Rudi Berwald as his secretary. In the spring of 1961, Borden Chemical moved to the Norton Building in downtown Seattle, and she still worked for Rudi, but had two other engineers, and by 1966 she had Rudi and three engineers. Borden Chemical then moved to the Tally Building in Bellevue in Sept 1970. On October 23, 1978 Jack had a heart attack and passed away. Mom worked for Borden and Rudi and the engineers until she retired on July 1, 1985.

Mom stayed at the house, and loved working in her yard, and that kept her busy. Jay, Mike and Cathy stopped by often, and she would go to their houses often. She would baby sit Mike’s dogs every once in a while, and one was Raider, a Seattle Police K-9. She loved it when Raider stayed because he would mind her, and she was able to take him for walks in the neighborhood. Mom also had a couple of cats, one was Stubby, which was a stray cat, and then there was Fluffy, a Persian cat which we all bought for her after Stubby died. As Mom got older, the house and yard maintenance was getting harder to take care of, so we suggested that she sell the house. So in November 2003, the house sold and she used the money to buy a new condo down in Renton along the Cedar River at 55 Williams Ave S. #208. At first, it was a big change for her, and took her a while to adjust not having a yard. But as time went on, she and Fluffy got use to the Condo, and she enjoyed meeting the other residences. Mom loved to walk along the River walkways, and sometimes walked to town and go to the bank or Post Office. During the summer, a Farmers Market would come to Renton on Tuesday afternoons, and Mom would walk down to see what they had. She would sometimes buy fruits, vegetables, or flowers. Jay and Mike would have Mom over to their homes at least once a week still, and Cathy would come on Sundays to take her grocery shopping and help do her bills. Mom’s grandson, David (Cathy’s son), would stop by once in a while to see her, and Mom would usually cook something for him to eat. Jay’s daughter, Tami has three kids, Tia, Ashley, and Brenden, and Tia has daughter’s, Kaiya and Breille, while Ashley had a boy, Kolton. So Mom is a grandmother to Tami and David, great grandmother to Tia, Ashley, and Brenden, and great-great grandmother to Kaiya, Breille, and Kolton. She adored all of them.

Mom’s eye sight was poor, but her health was good, and she could still take care of herself living in her Condo by herself. She would go for her walks along the river, weather permitting. As time went on, she was having a hard time living by herself, and Jay, Mike and Cathy convinced her to move into a Senior Adult Family Home. So at the end of 2016, she moved into Agape Care LLC at 4009 NE 10th St., Renton, WA. One of the care givers lived at the home and her name was Cindy. Cindy eventually bought the home and business and changed the name to Highlands Senior Home LLC. Cindy and her staff took very good care of Sachi. We had a 100th Birthday party for mom at a hall, and relatives and friends attended, and she remembered everyone that was there. She really slowed down, but made it to her 101st and 102nd birthdays. She went peacefully and was not in any pain on 11/30/21 when she passed away.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.Evergreen-Washelli.com for the Hori family.