History new and old was honored at the annual Yolo County Women’s History Month Luncheon.
In a different approach than previous years, four Davis Senior High School drama students brought to life women who have made their mark in Yolo County, even though many of their lives began elsewhere.
The theme for Thursday’s luncheon was “Weaving the Stories of Women’s Lives,” focusing on four women who are immigrants or descendants of immigrants who came to Yolo County.
The women recognized were Bessie Pierce Anderson, of Irish descent from Zamora and Knights Landing; Tanya Volkers, of Russian descent from West Sacramento; Alice Carbahal, of Spanish descent from Winters; and Frances Sakai, of Japanese descent from Clarksburg. Three of the women had descendents in the audience, including daughters, sons, grandchildren and even a husband, in which the teens could tell their stories.
Naomi Gerner, 18, shared the history of Anderson, who was born in Woodland in 1883 but returned to her parents’ homeland of Ireland for much of her childhood. When she returned to California in 1906, it was soon after the San Francisco earthquake where Anderson helped nurse the sick and injured.
Eventually her family made their way to Black’s Station, known as Zamora today, where they operated the local hotel. Anderson eventually met farmer John Anderson and they settled in Knights Landing, surviving a fire that took out their general store in 1938. Anderson remained a key member of the Knights Landing community with her 100th birthday in 1983 attended by most in town. She died in 1987 at the age of 104.
While Bessie Anderson was born in Yolo County, Tanya Volkers lived abroad for her first 20 years after being born to Russian parents in China. Geneva Duren, 17, told Volkers’ story that included coming to Seattle for school in 1928 and becoming a U.S. citizen. Volkers returned to Shanghai soon after. She was living in China during World War II and was in a prisoner-of-war camp with her family.
After the war, she returned to the U.S. Her first husband eventually left for England and they divorced. She operated an embroidery business for 30 years before settling in West Sacramento in 1981 where she was active in events tied to her Russian heritage. She died a few months shy of her 100th birthday in 2008.
Like Volkers, Sakai was affected by World War II, except stateside. Sofie Brown, 15, told the story of how Sakai was born in 1930 in Marysville but who was forced into an internment camp in 1942 because of her Japanese heritage. For awhile after the war, Sakai, her nine siblings and parents referred to time as “before camp” and “after camp.”
Eventually, Sakai’s family settled in Clarksburg where they farmed. She met Howard Sakai and it was “love at first sight.” While she helped on their family farm, she got her bachelor’s degree and teaching credential, working as a teacher and counselor. Sakai got her master’s degree at UC Davis in 1978. She died in 2008 at age 78.
Like Anderson and Sakai, Carbahal spent at least part of her life in farming. Her story was told by Miriam Nansen, 15, and she emphasized how Carbahal remembered little of her home country Spain, leaving it when she was 4 years old. Her family first went to Hawaii by boat to work in the sugar fields before making their way to California. Mansen said they “followed the harvests,” eventually settling in Winters. It was a place that Carbahal’s family said reminded them of home.
In 1921, Carbahal married John Carbahal, who happened to be on the same ship as her family. They eventually established a farm business. Alice Carbahal never went to school and didn’t know how to read but if people told her a recipe, she would remember it and figured how to make the dish. Carbahal died at the age of 92 in 1995.
Each year March is designated as National Women’s History Month to ensure the history of women will be recognized and celebrated in schools, workplaces and communities throughout the country.
Dotty Pritchard, Women’s History Month Committee president, noted that every family has stories from mothers, sisters and daughters that form their own history.
“It’s up to you to keep their stories alive,” she said, concluding the event.
Contact Katherine Jarvis at 530-406-6231.
