Brown-Ullstrup Performing Arts Foundation

Background – Sayonara My Friends: Japanese Americans at Lake-Lawn

In 1942, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 which ordered the removal of any person with at least 1/16th Japanese ancestry on the western coast of the United States into internment camps.  In 1943, one of the then-owners of Lake Lawn Resort, Jay Reader, sponsored Henry Tsuru out of Minidoka Internment Camp in Idaho and made him a pastry chef at the resort.  This was the start of a great chapter of Lake Lawn history as many more Japanese-Americans left the camps and joined Tsuru to become part of the Lake Lawn family.

Below are pictures of yearbooks, reunion programs, and a some pages of a book about Lake Lawn Resort that show the story of the people that were sponsored out the internment camps to make lives at Lake Lawn and Delavan, Wisconsin.

The book about the history of Lake Lawn Resort in Delavan, Wisconsin. This is what started our quest to learn more about the internees who came to the resort.
Page 53: Henry Tsuru
Page 54-55: The family names. On page 55, seated at the left is Lois Kaseguma. Her high school reunion program entry is below.
Page 56-57: Lois Kaseguma’s father, Fred, is the chef in the bottom picture on page 56.
Page 59: Henry Tsuru, the first internee, is seated with the then-owners.
Jeanne Kaseguma: High School Year Book Entry and Picture
Jeanne Kaseguma: High School Reunion Entry
Lois Kaseguma: High School Reunion Entry
Robert Kaseguma: High School Year Picture
Robert Kaseguma: HIgh School Reunion Program Entry
Florence Tsuru, Class of , Yearbook picture and entry
Florence Tsuru: High School Picture with Classmates
Florence Tsuru: High School Chorus
Florence Tsuru: High School Bowling Team
Florence Tsuru, Reunion Program Entry
Florence Tsuru, Reunion Program Entry
Frank Tsuru: High School Year Book Picture
Frank Tsuru: High School Reunion Program Entry
William Wada: High School Year Book Picture and Entry
William Wada: High School Baseball
After the live boradcast of this show, Phil Reader, the son of Jay and Ruby Reader, introduced himself! He was friends with the Japanese-American students from the camps and still keeps in contact with them! What an honor to meet him!
Phil Reader and the cast of “The Kane Shadow Sayonara, My Friends”
Phil Reader and Siegfried Christoph who played Orson Welles