Mitsuye Katsuyama (center) celebrated her 100th birthday on Saturday at her Watsonville home. Dozens of family members from around the Bay Area drove by her home and stopped for a few minutes on the driveway to say “Happy Birthday,” her son Virgil (right) said. “She’s been through a lot and she’s enjoyed the ride,” he said.
Katsuyama and her family moved to Watsonville in 1952 to farm strawberries. She also worked for roughly 20 years at Ford’s Department store in downtown Watsonville before the store shuttered. She was born and raised in Lancaster, Calif. Her life forever changed during World War II when she was ripped from her home and imprisoned at Poston Internment Camp in Arizona. Virgil said she met her late husband, Toshiya, in the camp. Together, they had four children: Victor Katsuyama (Laguna Hills), Kelly Katsuyama (San Jose), Kathy Ishikawa (Watsonville) and Virgil.
“She’s seen everything that she’s wanted to see and now she’s tired,” Virgil said.
