Mikiko Saito Andrews
Mikiko Saito was born on the 12th of
March, 1930 in Rumoi, Hokkaido, Japan to Yoshimi Saito and Nao Saito Honma.
Born and raised on an orchard Mikiko learned to work hard at a very young age.
She had one younger brother and an older sister who died before Mikiko was
born. The schools that they attended were all-girl and all-boy schools.
In 1941, the attack on Pearl
Harbor began. This changed the lives of many who were living in Japan. The
young men were all called to war and had to leave their homes and families.
Since the boys had left, that meant the girls needed to do the work that they
had once done. Because of this, Mikiko was not able to attend school very often.
In December of 1946, Mikiko’s
father passed away. At this time, she was only 16 years old. In order for her
family to continue living the way they did, Mikiko had to drop out of school completely
and had to go to work.
In the Japanese culture it was
very important for the men to get an education so that they could marry and
provide for their families. Because of this, Mikiko had to work extra hard to
earn money for her family so that her brother could continue through school,
every penny she earned she gave to her mother.
Back then, they didn’t have
many appliances and electronics such as refrigerators or heaters. Since they
had neither of these, they had to buy groceries daily and use their wood stove
to heat their small house. They didn’t have a car either, so this meant that
they had to walk everywhere they wanted to go.
Mikiko decided moved down to
southern Japan to Tokyo in 1953 to work for a couple officers in the military
and their families; taking care of the kids, cleaning and cooking. She sent
much of her paycheck back home to her mother, keeping just enough for herself
to pay her bills. On the base, she met Robert George Grotefend and married him
in Japan in June 1954.
Once she became pregnant with
my father, they decided to move to America. On September 22, 1955 she gave
birth to Mark George Grotefend in Geneva, New York. For 6 months, Robert left
Mikiko to go to officer training where he became a 2nd lieutenant.
During this time, she went to live with Robert’s family in Cleveland, Ohio
until his graduation. He then left to Germany while she stayed with his parents
to get her citizenship. In 1957, she got her United States citizenship and
moved to Germany where John David Grotefend was born on May 26, 1957.
In 1958 they moved back to
America when Robert retired from the military and started to work for an
airline in Maryland. They then moved to Virginia where Robert worked for the
airline on a military base. Jadene Effie Grotefend was then born on October 13,
1963. They moved once again when Robert’s job took them over to Los Angeles,
California.
On July 5th, 1975
Mikiko married Milburn Leroy Andrews. They lived together in Eugene for many
years until November 8, 2006 when Mel passed away.
Patricia Edith Bain Scanlan
Patricia Edith Bain was born to Tedrowe Raymond Bain and Edith Nona Knepper Bain on the 15th of April, 1937 in Herington, Kansas. She had a total of 8 siblings, 6 sisters and 2 brothers. Ruby born 1935, Patricia, Dorothy born 1938, Ruth born 1940, Mona Louise only lived a few days, William, Helen, Harry, and Bonnie.
They lived on a farm in Licking, Missouri and grew corn and trees to make sorghum molasses. Patricia says that she was her father’s favorite, he never spanked or disciple her in any way.
Patricia started school at 4 years old with her older sister Ruby. Because the bus stop was so far away, their mother was afraid that Ruby would get lost and between the two of them they would find their way. Everything worked fine until the school found out she was only 4, then she had to sit in an empty room by herself until school got out and they would walk together.
In 1942 the family moved to Alabama. They tended to move around a lot and would sometimes live in tents.
When she was 10, her and her sister Ruby would wake up early to make breakfast for the family. They had to make 40 biscuits every morning as well as eggs and bacon and their mom would make a big pot of gravy. Her father never let anyone laugh at the table and if they did, they would have to leave and their food would go to someone else.
In 1952 someone threatened the life of her father so they had to move away very quickly. They auctioned off most their possessions and only had one box of clothes for each child as well as a bunch of canned goods to feed the family when they moved.
When she was 14, she had a pen pal in the military, his name was JC and he was a friend of her uncle’s. When he came home from service, he bought a car and came to visit her. She was covered in dirt from working in the farm in the back so she was embarrassed.
They didn’t have any running water in the house, just had an outhouse in the backyard.
When she was a senior in high school, her mother was chosen to be on a TV show called “Queen for a Day”. She also got engaged to Edward Leroy Scanlan in her senior year.
Her favorite subject in school was English and in high school she studied everything business. She was a great typist and a good dictator.
After graduation, she got a job through the school at an insurance company in Compton, California. She worked 5 and 1/2 days and earned $37.50 a week. She worked as a secretary. Patricia went to night school and continued to work during the day.
In 1957, Patricia and Edward were married in California. They moved to Tuscan, Arizona later that year where my mother Sabrina Louise Scanlan was born on September 10, 1960. Finally, they moved back to Anaheim, California where Patrick Benjamin Scanlan was born on January 5, 1964 and Angela Dawn Scanlan was born on October 6, 1966.
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