Kaoru Tokunaga
Kaoru (spelled as Kawara in the 1942 Redmond Highschool yearbook) Tokunaga was born in Kirkland, WA on August 18, 1923.
Her family first moved to Redmond when Kaoru was in grade school, and farmed in the area. She later attended Redmond High and was an active student, joining Chorus and the Girl’s Club.
In 1941, her brothers Joe Yoshio Tokunaga and Harold Haruo Tokunaga both graduated from Redmond High School. That same year her brother Jack Masakazu Tokunaga was chosen by their parents to start high school in Tamana City, Japan.
Kauru Tokunaga
Redmond High School Girl's Club, 1942
Kauru Tokunaga (left) and Chizuko Tamaye (right)
Redmond High School Chorus, 1942
A year later, executive Order 9066 was signed, during Kaoru's senior year of high school. Her youngest brother Sam Susumu Tokunaga may have been a freshman that year, but Kaoru had enough credits to receive her diploma from Redmond High School, before her family moved to avoid incarceration. Their new home in Quincy, east of cascades, was outside the exclusion zone.
She never moved back to Redmond. Near the end of WWII, Kaoru attended chicken sexing school in Landsdale, PA. There she met George Murakami. They were married in 1948, and spent the next two years traveling and working together, before returning to Washington state. The pair eventually retired to Tacoma, Washington. According to her obituary, there she enjoyed tending to her flower beds and cooking for friends and family, until her passing in 2014.
In addition to archives held by the Redmond Historical Society, this summary was put together with the help of public records, such as the 1930 (above) census, as well as published obituaries.
Joe: https://columbiabasinherald.com/news/2005/jul/23/joe-tokunaga-2/
Kaoru: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/tribnet/name/kaoru-murakami-obituary?id=18107869
Jack: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/seattletimes/name/jack-tokunaga-obituary?id=15659451
Obituaries for Harold and Sam were not available at this time.