Rose Hatsuye R. Makio collection

Hatsuye "Rose" Makino was born February 15, 1921 in Suisun, CA. Her parents were Gengo Makino and Sunao Makino (nee Shiba), both born in Japan. She had four siblings: Tadao "Joe" Makino, Emiko "Emi" Holcomb, Toshiko "Toshi" Makino, and Margaret Tatsuko Miyamoto.

Rose completed some elementary school in Elmira, CA and Vacaville, CA and graduated from high school in Live Oak, CA. Gengo and Sunao were migrant farmers who moved often with the crop cycles in northern California. Sunao was trained and licensed as a nurse and midwife in Manchuria as a young woman, and came to the United States after marrying Gengo in 1920.

The family was sent to Tule Lake in July of 1942. Sunao worked as a block nurse, Joe learned his lifelong trade of car mechanics, and Rose was a server in the dining hall and nurse's aid. Margaret attended school. In July of 1943, Tule Lake was declared a segregation center and incarcerated Japanese Americans who were deemed "disloyal". The family was found to be "loyal" and was transferred to "Amache"/Granada Relocation Center in the fall of 1943. While incarcerated in Amache, Rose worked in the nursery school. At a later point, sometime in 1944, Rose and Emi were granted a work release and left Amache. They found a Quaker sponsor in Saint Paul, Minnesota and worked there in a daycare center until the end of the war. The family reunited in 1945 in Chicago because Joe found work there.

Rose never married and never had children of her own. Toshi had a severe developmental disability from birth and needed full-time care for her entire life. Sunao died in 1970, and at that point, Rose took over the care of Toshi. The pair moved to Cheyenne, Wyoming in 1997 following the passing of Emi in order to be closer to Margaret. Rose died on May 24, 2011 in Cheyenne, WY.

Biographical details provided by Amy Holcomb.

Source: Rose Hatsuye R. Makio