In April 2023 Cynthia joined other Topaz descendants along with a few survivors at the ceremony at the Topaz site commemorating the 80th anniversary of the killing of Hatsuaki Wakasa, an elderly Japanese American, by a Topaz guard.
Cynthia is not Japanese American, but in her own journey of discovery of her family’s history in Topaz, she is a Topaz descendant like the rest of us.
From 1942-1945 Ella created about 80 drawings at Topaz. Only a few of the original drawings have been located, including the 13 donated to JANM. To see images of 25 of Ella’s Topaz sketches, click here.
Cynthia is searching for the whereabouts of the remaining drawings, which were last held by the Japanese American Citizens’ League in Hollywood, CA, in the mid 1970s, but are now unaccounted for.
If you know of the whereabouts of any of the lost sketches of Topaz by Ella Honderich, or if you can identify any of the people in these sketches or photos, please contact us or send us an email at topazstories@gmail.com.
Grateful acknowledgment to Cynthia Wright for sharing her family photos and stories, and for hunting down images of her grandmother’s drawings; also, to Brad Shirakawa of the Alameda Japanese American History Project, for sharing his research.
Sources:
1 Shirakawa, Brad. “The Shoemakers of Topaz,” Alameda Japanese American History Project. 2023.
2 Niiya, Brian. “Dave Tatsuno.” Densho Encyclopedia. Accessed on 8/13/2023: https://encyclopedia.densho.org/Dave_Tatsuno/
3 Correspondence from Cynthia Wright to Ruth Sasaki. November 7, 2021. Courtesy of Cynthia Wright.
4 Excerpt from letter written by Daisy Satoda to Ella Vandela Honderich-Zaff, dated July 15, 1988. Excerpt courtesy of Daisy Uyeda Satoda.
About the contributor: Cynthia Wright was born in Southern California and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. She worked in high tech for 15 years until moving to Salt Lake City, Utah with her husband Joe in 2005. They have three daughters. Cynthia became interested in learning more about her grandparents’ history at Topaz after coming across a Topaz Story on Instagram that sparked her curiosity, having only vaguely known about Topaz. She has since spent the past two years researching and learning about the history in order to preserve and share the story.
Copyright 2023, Cynthia Wright. All rights reserved.
Thank you, Cynthia, for sharing your story about your grandmother. She was very good at portraying life in Topaz; her artistry was superb. Hope her other artwork can be found somewhere.
I was 7, going on 8, the year we were interned. I do remember some things, but not all. So every artwork/photos help to bring back some memory of that era.
In the meantime, Happy New Year and all the best for 2024. — jun, san francisco, ca
Thank you for the kind words Jun. I appreciate you reading and commenting on the story and am happy to have been able to share with the help of Topaz Stories.
My mother was just a baby and my grandparents have past. It’s so nice to hear from someone that experienced it first hand. It’s so important to remember, understand and share so it never happens again.
Have a wonderful New Year-
Cynthia, this is a beautiful story. Thank you for sharing your and your family’s experience and relationship with the Topaz internment camps. Your daughters look very happy to be at this amazing exhibit.