Exhibit: Santa Barbara Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage, 1870s-1970s
Paul Akira Tanaka (1911-1995)
Pediatrician, US Army Captain, a Founder of the Goleta Valley Community Hospital
By Cherie Bonazzola
Paul Akira Tanaka, 3 years old, 1914
Early Life
Paul Akira Tanaka was born March 21, 1911 in San Francisco, California to Tsunesuke “Frank” Tanaka (born March 11, 1875 in Japan, and passed away on July 21, 1957 in Santa Barbara, California) and Machiye V. Nakashima (born in 1886 or 1887 in Nagano-ken, Japan).
Paul’s father immigrated to the United States in 1896 on the SS Australia to San Francisco and was listed as a merchant. Their granddaughter, and Paul’s daughter, Judith Tanaka, said that her grandfather was a proprietor. In the 1920s-1930s, he was a proprietor for a dye house and dyed feathers. In the 1940s, he was an artist for fancy feather works. Judith says that he painted scenes on feathers. Machi was a housewife in Santa Barbara; however, she had an antique store in San Francisco. She traveled to China and Japan to buy goods for the store. Her grandmother passed on the story of a visitor coming to the shop, who bought several kimonos for her friends. The shopper was First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. The shopping spree made it into the local newspapers. Judith says that both her grandparents were involved in charity work in the city.
Paul had two sisters, Kiyo Margaret (born about 1916), and Shio June (born 1920). In their late teens, early 20s they were hostesses, greeting passengers from ships arriving from Japan.
Paul graduated from the University of San Francisco in 1931. He went to medical school at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska graduating with honors in 1935. In 1936, Paul and his mother were listed on the SS Taito Maru manifest sailing from Yokohama to San Francisco. Had they been in Japan for a family matter, or was Machi buying for her store, and/or proudly showing the family Paul the medical doctor? Sometime between 1936 and 1940, Frank and Machi were in a car accident, killing Machi and causing Frank to be permanently disabled. The 1940 census lists their daughter as head of household for her father, sister, and several lodgers. She is listed as a proprietor, possibly taking over her mother’s business. In the 1950 census, Frank is now living with his son’s family in Santa Barbara. Later, the two sisters became Sisters of the Sacred Heart, and returned to live in Tokyo, Japan.
Paul Tanaka graduated with honors at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, 1935
Paul Tanaka at 26 years old, 1937
Paul took his Medical Boards in Phoenix, Arizona and opened up a practice in Phoenix. Judith says that her Dad heard about a Japanese midwife in El Paso, Texas, who had delivered hundreds of babies. He went to visit her to learn more about midwifery. The midwife liked him a lot, not so her daughter, Hisako Isabelle Kurita (born January 29, 1917 in Ft. Lupton, Colorado). The dislike turned to love, and Paul and Isabelle were married November 28, 1937 in El Paso. They settled in Phoenix, where Judith was born in 1939, and Joyce in 1940. The couple were involved with the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) in Phoenix. JACL was established in 1929, and was the oldest and largest Asian civil rights organization in America. Paul held several officer positions in the local organization. When the Japanese had to move into internment camps in 1942, the Tanaka family moved to El Paso. The family was never interned in a camp.
Dr. Tanaka was a captain in the US Army from 1943 to 1945, setting up hospitals at the fronts in Europe in World War II. He was a field surgeon in the Medical Corps of the 53rd Field Hospital Unit, participating in the campaigns of northern France, Rhineland, Central Europe and Ardennes. He was awarded a Field Ribbon and five Bronze Stars for his service.
Paul Tanaka, US Army Captain, 1943
Santa Barbara
After the war, Paul and Isabelle researched many areas in the west to set up his pediatric practice. According to Judith, the family settled in Santa Barbara because her dad was moved by the view as they came over Ortega Hill and saw the beautiful Miramar Hotel, and the beauty of the city. They tried to buy a house in Hope Ranch, but were turned down because they were Japanese. Two sons joined the family in Santa Barbara, Paul and Peter. Paul opened up his pediatric practice in 1946 and closed it in 1984. In 1975, he was Chief of Staff at St. Frances Hospital. He was one of the founders of Goleta Valley Hospital in 1966. He passed away in January 1995, in Destin, Florida where he had been living. In his obituary, it was said: “Dr. Tanaka was a gentle, caring person who touched many people in his almost 40 years of practice in Santa Barbara.”
Acknowledgements
Conversations with Judith Tanaka, eldest daughter. She shared stories of the family and only had a few photos to share. Family photos are in Florida with a nephew. She wanted to participate in this exhibit “to pay homage, respect, and dignify their lives and the impact that grandparents, parents, and extended family had on her life. Their life’s journey, struggles and tremendous successes should be in history books for younger generations, especially with so many mixed racial generations.”
Ancestry.com
New World Sun newspaper articles (wedding, JACL, obituary).
Paul A (Dr) Tanaka, Obituary 21C-53, Santa Barbara County Genealogical Society (https://sbgen.org/start-your-search/search-database/#/search/); citing Obituary Scrapbooks, held by the Santa Barbara Historical Museum, Gledhill Library.