Suzuki, Masayo

Masayo Suzuki was born on January 2, 1920, in Renton, Washington, the third son of Sosaku and Tatsu Suzuki, who were immigrants from Japan. Sosaku Suzuki operated a greenhouse in Renton in the years leading up to World War II. Suzuki was a graduate of Renton High School and was attending the University of Washington in Seattle when the forced removal happened, and he was forced from school and his family was sent to the Pinedale Assembly Center, where they arrived on May 13, 1942. The Suzuki family was sent to the Tule Lake concentration camp on July 18, 1942, and they moved to Heart Mountain on September 21, 1943, as part of the segregation of so-called disloyal incarcerees to Tule Lake and loyal incarcerees to other camps. They lived in apartment 20-18-D in Heart Mountain. Suzuki was arrested on September 22, 1944, and was part of the second group of Heart Mountain draft resisters who were tried and convicted in July 1945 of violating the Selective Service Act. He was sentenced to two years in federal prison. After the war, he, his parents, and older brother, Shizumi, moved to Southern California, where they ran a nursery in Los Angeles. Suzuki married Toyoko Iwasaki on August 12, 1962, and the couple eventually moved to Torrance, California. Masayo Suzuki died on October 1, 2009, in Torrance, California.