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From the rural setting of Cienega Valley in San Benito County to the urban enclave of Fresno, Toshi Sakai has experienced many life-changing moments during her 100 years.

Her parents, Tsutomu and Sadae Awaya, immigrated to California from Japan. Their first child remained in Japan with relatives. Toshi was their second child; she was born on March 8, 1923, their first child born in the U.S. Three more siblings followed.

Her parents tended lettuce fields owned by the Smith family. The Smiths’ daughter, Georgia, became one of Toshi’s closest friends.  Toshi’s mother, Sadae, maintained the outdoor bathhouse and fed the other farmworkers.

Toshi remembers that she had lots of freedom growing up on the farm.  She drove tractors and trucks as early as 11 years old.  The times when the family visited friends and her father had consumed a few drinks, she would be the “designated driver” for the trip home.

She was attending Salinas Junior College in 1942 when her family was sent to Poston, Arizona. Camp was different, but okay, she says. She recalls working as the medical director’s secretary and being good at playing soccer. 

Toshi and her sister, Aki, were allowed to leave Poston in 1945 to find work to support their family. Aki went to Philadelphia; Toshi headed for San Francisco. She worked as a medical transcriber for a doctor and did housework in exchange for room and board.

Upon release from camp, the rest of her family left for Gilroy Hot Springs.  Her father was ill and went to a TB ward in San Jose. After he passed, the family moved to San Francisco.

In the early ’50s, she met Robert Sakai, who lived in Fresno. His family had been sent to the Gila River camp, but he was allowed to leave early for college in Minnesota. Soon after, he was drafted into the Army. When the war ended, he returned to Fresno and managed Payless Market.

After a short courtship, Robert and Toshi married in June 1953. They set up home in Fresno and raised two daughters, Carrie and Leslie. They loved traveling and made frequent road trips to Yosemite and Pismo Beach before Robert passed in 2013.

In her spare time, Toshi took art classes at a community college.  She was a gifted natural artist, creating large pottery pieces, watercolors, and still life drawings. Her Greenhaven Terrace apartment is filled with lots of art and family photos. 

Toshi got a surprise dinner to celebrate birthday #100. Her church minister from Fresno and numerous longtime friends attended. How has she lived so long?  She credits it to her family, good nutrition, staying physically active, and her love of creating art.

Ruby Tom was born in Hong Kong on April 24, 1924, and is 99 years young!  She lived in Hong Kong until she was 12 years old, when her family returned to their village in China. Ruby recalls great memories of school in Hong Kong and China. While living in the Guangzhou Province, Ruby met her husband, Edward Tom. They were introduced by her sister and her sister’s husband as they both lived on the same street. They migrated to the U.S. in 1948, where they settled in San Jose. They then moved to Wyoming to help her father-in-law’s restaurant business, and later returned to the Bay Area.  While her husband worked in a grocery store, Ruby worked as a seamstress for the Roughrider Men’s Jeans Factory. They then moved to Napa, where they opened a Mom and Pop grocery store, Tom’s Market.  In the early 1980s, the Toms retired and moved to Sacramento, where they doted on their grandchildren. Edward passed away in January 2018.

Ruby has three wonderful daughters, Gail, Dale, and Alice, son Raymond, four grandchildren, and three great grandchildren. Ruby is very independent, according to her daughter Gail. For decades, Ruby walked daily along the canal at Portuguese Park, where she caught up with old friends and made new friends. Ruby plays mahjong at ACC three times a week and enjoys the social interaction with all her friends. When you stop by ACC, you can see everyone having a great time, smiling, and laughing in between the serious playing of the mahjong tiles. She and her daughters are grateful for ACC and for the many activities they offer to the community’s senior citizens.  The initiative, effort, and foresight of super volunteers like Linda Fong and Jo Fong is the reason there is a mahjong club.  It offers a place that is welcoming, warm, inviting, inclusive and positive.  

Gail shared that Ruby is known for her vegetable gardening. Ruby has a “green thumb” as she grows long beans, winter melon, zucchini, tomatoes, and cucumbers. All the right vegetables for living a long life. Ruby says she is grateful and appreciative for the people in her life.

Ruby values her recognition by ACC as a centenarian and proudly displays her key to the city and letter from Congresswoman Doris Matsui on her living room mantel next to her husband’s Congressional Medal of Honor.

For most of his youth, Tommy Chan lived at the Chung Mei Boys Home in San Francisco. Dr. Charles Shephard, a Baptist minister, started the home for boys of Chinese heritage.  Some were orphans, some abandoned; others were there because their parents could no longer care for them.

Tommy was born in April 1920 in Fresno, the youngest of eight kids. His family moved to San Francisco when he was seven years old.  When he was nine years old, he moved into the Boys Home and left when he was 18.

When his merchant father passed, the family went back to China. After two years, they returned to San Francisco. Tommy enrolled at Galileo High School and loved taking woodwork classes.  As an adult, he loved doing carpentry projects. He left school before graduation to help two of his brothers run a butcher shop in Sacramento. He subsequently earned his GED.

One day, he met Sandra Fong at the Pagoda Café.  Sandra had come to the U.S. as a young child.  Her parents owned a poultry business, Sheu Fong Company, at 422 I Street. She was already engaged to a sailor, so Tommy didn’t pursue her.

Tommy went into the U.S. Army after WWII started. He completed basic training in Texas and was assigned to the 39th Combat Engineer Battalion. He worked with land mines and anti-tank retreats. He traveled to the Mediterranean with his unit. In recognition of his service, Tommy was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2021.

Tommy returned to Sacramento after the war ended. He heard that Sandra was no longer engaged but learned she had another suitor. Undeterred, he pursued and eventually won her affection. They married in 1949, officiated by his mentor, Dr. Shephard. Tommy and Sandra had three daughters, Carolyn, Gale, and Donna.  Settling in Greenhaven, Tommy worked in local grocery stores.

For over 30 years, Tommy and Sandra volunteered for ACC.  He and Sandra were part of the first set of volunteers running bingo games. Tommy photographed all the fundraising activities, including all of the crab feeds and special events. His photographs are invaluable in documenting the history of ACC. The couple also volunteered for other community organizations like My Sister’s House. 

Tommy feels he’s fortunate to be living so long. He’s grateful to be surrounded by his family and attentive caregivers. During our visit, he told me his favorite food is chocolate. He was all smiles when his lunch was served – it included a large slice of chocolate cake.

This past April, Hien Thi Nguyen celebrated her 100th birthday with family and the staff of the ACC Care Center. Affectionately called Grandma Hien, she is a prime example of the perseverance of the human spirit.  Born in Hanoi in April 1923, her life journey has been filled with challenges and heartache.  With the love and support of family, she has persevered through it all.

Hien was working in a clothing factory when she met Nguyen, the love of her life. They married in 1941. Their early years together were a happy time; they spent many hours nurturing their rose garden. To this day, red roses are still her favorite flower.

Then the Great Vietnamese Famine of 1944-1945 occurred. Nguyen would leave home for weeks in search of work and food. Home alone, Hien found solace in caring for neighborhood children while their parents sought work. Having lost twin daughters early in her marriage, Hien treated these children as if they were her own. She was an early recycler, sewing pillows and blankets for the children from old clothing. 

Tragically, her husband died in 1950. She and her two sisters sought refuge in South Vietnam. Hien and her older sister, Thom, found work in a local restaurant bar. In 1970, Hien adopted Ngoc, a two-year-old girl. Ngoc’s parents were an American soldier and a Vietnamese woman. In 1975, she adopted her niece’s son, Trung Chau, who suffered from cerebral palsy and mental deficiencies. 

Thom and her family left Vietnam in 1984 and eventually settled in South Sacramento. In 1990, Hien was 67 years old when she and her two children arrived in California. The family settled in a neighborhood not far from other members of Thom’s family.

After settling into life in the U.S., daughter Ngoc Nguyen went to beauty school and opened a nail salon. At age 91, the family realized Hien was unable to live alone. Ngoc sold her business and became a full-time caregiver for Hien.

Grandma Hien has been a resident at the ACC Care Center for the past four years. The family is grateful for the compassionate staff and quality of care given to her. Grandma Hien enjoys the social activities offered, pet therapy, and outings with her family. 

Having unconditional love and support of her family has been a constant pillar of strength that has carried Grandma Hien through her 100-year life journey. In recognition of this achievement, City Councilmember Rick Jennings presented her with a very special birthday gift – a key to the city.

Virginia Gee has had 100 years of experience perfecting her culinary skills, which her family says she is known for. From Sacramento to Marysville and points in between, she has fed comfort Chinese food and homemade herbal soups to her family and friends.

She spent the first 18 years of her life in Sacramento. The oldest of nine children born to Chinese immigrants, she attended Lincoln Elementary and graduated from Sacramento High School. Her family lived in Land Park, not far from the former Jumbo Market that was located on South Land Park Drive. Her family was among the first Asians to own a home in this neighborhood.  Her mother, Wong Shee Fong, was a housewife; her father, Fred Fong, co-owned a barbershop in Old Sacramento with his cousin.

Shortly after graduating from high school, relatives introduced her to Jack Gee. He was 28 years old and working at Yuba Grocery with his cousin.  The couple married and she moved to Marysville to start her own family. They had six children: Carolyn, Beverly, Christine, Cynthia, Wendall, and Roddy.

Their first home was in downtown Marysville. When the home got too small for their growing family, they moved to a larger home in East Marysville, near Ellis Lake.  Virginia devoted her life to raising her children, making homemade herbal soups that was always a mainstay on the dinner table. “She’d make sure we drank some right before we went to bed,” says daughter, Beverly Chan. “She believed that the medicinal properties would be better absorbed in our bodies while we slept.”

Meanwhile, Jack and his cousin opened another grocery store called Yuba Market. After Jack passed away in 1973, Virginia went to work at the Del Monte Peach Cannery. It was a seasonal job, but she loved it.  She enjoyed socializing with the other workers. When she wasn’t at the cannery, Virginia filled her days gardening, making blankets, and cooking for everyone. Roddy says her fried rice was famous.  She lovingly labored over the annual Chinese New Year meal. She didn’t play mahjong, but she regularly cooked for her friends that did play. Beverly recalls drinking “brown soup” every winter.  The soup involved simmering deer hooves for hours in herbal soup broth.

In 2013, Virginia moved back to Sacramento and into Greenhaven Terrace, where her brother, Kui Fong, was living. For the past seven years, she’s lived with Roddy and enjoys visits from her extended family that now includes five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

In March, Teruko Ono celebrated her 100th birthday at ACC with her mahjong friends. Born on March 9, 1923, in the city of Kyoto, Japan, Teruko grew up in a nice house with her parents, sister, and brother. She was the oldest of the three children. Her father, Kinoshuke Yamanaka, owned a lumber company. When World War II broke out, he sold his inventory and built rental homes.

Teruko met her future husband, Akira Ono, when he was a student at Kyoto University and she was a student at the Singer Sewing School, training to become a seamstress. Akira played the violin in the Kyoto University Symphony. One day, Teruko and a friend went to see one of the University Symphony concerts. After the performance, Akira and his orchestra friends met them in the audience and invited them to coffee. 

Teruko and Akira got married in 1946. These were tumultuous years in post-war Japan. While Akira worked as a government interpreter, Teruko stayed home to raise their kids. In 1950, Akira became a Buddhist minister. For Teruko, becoming a minister’s wife marked the beginning of a life of public service and doing things for others quietly behind the scenes. 

Her daughter, Junko Egi, recalls Teruko’s kindness and attentiveness throughout her childhood. “She made all of my clothes, and they were beautiful. I took piano lessons, and my mom would always listen to me play. Before each recital, she sewed me a new outfit.” 

Junko also recalls a day in kindergarten when her teacher asked her to draw a sun. “I had no idea what to do, so mom took me outside and very patiently showed me how by first drawing a circle. I will never forget that day.” 

Teruko was not only gifted in drawing but also in pastel painting, knitting, and crocheting. She loved Japanese food and was an excellent cook. With her formal training in dressmaking, she made dresses and kimonos for her family and friends. For ten years, she also studied the Japanese tea ceremony and taught it in Portland, Oregon, years later. Junko says her mom is very organized and proper, traits that she probably picked up from her training in the tea ceremony, which was performed for noble people and the Emperor of Japan.

In 1956, Akira was assigned a ministerial position in Fresno, and the family immigrated to the U.S. Because of his multiple assignments, they moved around a lot. Next, it was Odgen, Utah, then Lodi, Monterey, and Portland. By then, Teruko had taken up teaching the tea ceremony, opening up a school to teach this ceremonial art form. She had more than 30 students.

Teruko says that being 100 years old “feels like a dream.” She attributes her long life to what she eats, which is mostly fish, chicken, and rice. She has also stayed mentally and socially active by playing mahjong at ACC three days a week. Junko is always by her side.

Life in Hawaii in the 1930s was drastically different than it is today. Back then, Hawaii was a U.S. territory, not an official state. Visitors arrived by cruise ship, docking in Honolulu Harbor, not far from where Barbara Lee grew up. She was born in Honolulu in September 1923. Her father, Lee Ah Fey, was from Hawaii; her mother, Chew Shee, from China. She was the second of three girls.

The family home was in a small lane off Fort Street, now a main artery running through downtown Honolulu and Chinatown. The home no longer stands; it was torn down and replaced by commercial buildings when the area was redeveloped during the 1950s.

Chinatown was a thriving neighborhood when Barbara was growing up. As a child, she did all the grocery shopping. Every day, she’d leave home in the early morning hours – while her sisters were still sleeping! She’d purchase fresh produce, poultry, and fish from the outdoor open-air markets.

Barbara attended Central Intermediate School and McKinley High School, two of the oldest public schools on Oahu.  She graduated from McKinley in June 1941.

During her daily morning grocery run, she recalls seeing many planes in the sky on Dec 7, 1941. She learned later that the Japanese staged a surprise strike on Hawaii. Barbara’s life changed after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Upon graduation, Barbara got a job at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard. It was during this time that she met her future husband, Nom Sing Lau (Bill).  Born in China, he had immigrated to the U.S. in 1938.  During WWII, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy, serving as a Seabee from 1942 to 1945. He received the Bronze Star for his participation in the 1944 recapture of Guam.

After Bill was discharged, Barbara followed him to California. They were married in December 1946 and raised their three children, Yvonne, Johnston and Stanford, in South Sacramento. The extended family includes four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

“My mom’s baking was a highlight for us,” says Johnston. “She’d make German Chocolate Cake, Pig Pickin’ Cake, Krumkake cookies, and lots of other cookies. We enjoyed those much more than the Chinese medicinal soup we had to drink when we got sick!”

Barbara worked at Hale Brothers Dept. Store and later retired from the Franchise Tax Board.  Besides baking, Barbara stayed busy making clothes on her Singer machine, crocheting doilies for every room in the home, and knitting afghan blankets for everyone.

Barbara’s life is quieter now. Family visits are a highlight, especially if you bring madeleines, her favorite cookies.

Annie Joe turned 100 on May 25, 2023. She lives at Maple Tree Village, where she continues to live a full life. She started working by helping in her parents’ Stockton market, then worked in a restaurant, next as a seamstress, and ultimately ended with a career in the field of electronics.

Her parents immigrated from China and became farmworkers, harvesting asparagus near Ryde, California. They ultimately scraped together enough money to open a Chinese market and restaurant in Stockton. The third oldest of eight children, Annie and her siblings all worked in their parent’s Chinese market, which sold poultry, rice, and other goods. In addition to going to school and helping in the store, she cooked for the family. Annie also accompanied her father on his rounds to deliver goods. Her job was to stay with the horse and wagon to ward off thieves!

She attended Lafayette School in Stockton and, as many Chinese children did, attended Chinese school in the evenings and Saturdays. According to her granddaughter Allison Joe, Annie married early, but her husband passed soon after. She moved to San Francisco, where Annie met her second husband, James (Jimmy) Joe.  They had three children together, Dennis, Eric, and Spencer. The family later moved to Redwood City to help Annie’s sister Elsie run her restaurant, the Star Café. Jimmy passed away in the early 1980s.  Annie continued to work at Litton Electronics until she retired in 1988.

Annie then moved to Sacramento, where she met Richard Gottlieb, her third husband. He has now passed. Annie’s three remaining siblings are Harry, Elaine, and Frank, and she has eight grandchildren.

In 2019, Annie appeared in a pilot web series called “Honest Abe: The Backstory,” which was partially filmed in the Delta town of Locke. She is seen in the show standing at the counter in a store, quietly counting jujubes while the action flies around her. The pilot never became a full series, but we can add “actress” to her list of accomplishments.  

Annie has had many careers: store clerk, seamstress, cook, and assembly line worker. She shared that her long life must be “in the genes” as her father lived to be 102.  But more importantly, she said the key to a long life is “don’t think about it; just live it and be nice to people.”

Her vision is diminishing, but her memory is crystal clear – especially when it comes to talking about the lush gardens she planted around her home. Perhaps being surrounded by beautiful foliage while he was growing up inspired her son, Donovan, to become a landscape architect. He’s designed many Sacramento residential landscapes.

Grace Fong was born in June 1924 in Sacramento, one of seven children. Dad worked for Southern Pacific, Mom at the local cannery. Grace’s one remaining 95-year-old sister lives in Kaneohe, Hawaii. They talk weekly.

She grew up among other Chinese families near 5th and P Streets. Grace recalls playing hide-n-seek and jump rope with her friends and playing team sports at the nearby YMCA.

She attended Lincoln Elementary and graduated from Sacramento High. Although Chinese was spoken at home, Grace also went to Chinese language school six days a week.  Much to her mother’s chagrin, Grace only spoke limited Chinese with her children. 

Grace was 22 when she met Walter Lee at the Chinese Gospel Mission. She liked him right away because he was thoughtful and a man of faith. Walter was from Walnut Grove and had 10 other siblings. He helped his brothers operate the U-Like Grocery store in Isleton. 

Sacramento’s Westminster Presbyterian Church was the site of their October 1948 wedding. Walter found employment with the U.S. Postal Service; Grace worked for the State of California.  They were married 55 years before he passed. They had two daughters, Daphne and Devonna, and two sons, Donovan and Duane. Grace has six grandchildren and  four great-grandchildren.

Walter cooked most of the family meals, which followed a routine: every Sunday, there was Harvey’s burgers after church and a spaghetti dinner; steamed egg with cream of mushroom soup on Mondays; steamed pork on Tuesdays; sloppy joes on Wednesdays; flank steak on Thursdays; steak on Fridays; and on Saturdays, soy sauce chicken or striped bass. Walter was an avid photographer, chronicling Delta life and residents during the 1930-50s.

Grace’s passion was creating her home’s landscape. The produce garden was filled with Chinese vegetables – long beans, bitter melon, squash, and others, depending on the season. She alone tended to the immense landscape.

Grace hemmed the kids’ clothes on a sewing machine she bought from a neighbor who was sent to an internment camp. The family was very active with the Sacramento Chinese Baptist Church. She and Walter traveled extensively throughout Asia and Europe.

The secret to her long life?  Maybe it’s her genes, her faith in God, or the gardens she lovingly created and nurtured. I think it’s a combination of all three.