Kiyo\u2019s Story<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\t\tSign Up for the Morning Newsletter<\/p>\n
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In May 1942, under Executive Order 9066, Sato and her family were forced from their home and sent to the Poston War Relocation Center in Arizona. Like thousands of other Japanese-Americans, they were removed not because of actions, but because of ancestry.<\/p>\n
Sato was assigned an identification number. Her freedom was reduced to a tag.<\/p>\n
\u201cNumber 25217-C,\u201d Sato said quickly. \u201cI have PTSD from that number.\u201d<\/p>\n
Inside the internment camp, she witnessed daily life shaped by confinement, surveillance and uncertainty. She has spoken openly about the long-term emotional toll of that experience, including trauma that never fully faded.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt stays with you,\u201d she has said. \u201cYour body remembers.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"People\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/DSC07715-2-1024x576.jpg\")
Kiyo Sato and Mary Daffin, co-owner of The Jacquelyn in Sacramento, speak to the crowd on Feb. 2, 2026. (Martin Christian)<\/p>\n
The loss that still hurts<\/p>\n
For her, the dogs she lost symbolize the unseen casualties of incarceration. Not just the land lost, the home ruined, or the years taken, but the living beings abandoned without explanation or mercy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey loved us,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
On Monday at The Jacquelyn in Sacramento, Sato shared that memory with a packed book club gathered to hear excerpts from \u201cKiyo\u2019s Story.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sato described the beds they slept on in the internment camps. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey were made of straw and wrapped in plastic. It was 123 degrees outside,\u201d Sato said. <\/p>\n
The plastic was to be used, if needed, as a body bag. Some attendees wiped away tears. Others sat frozen, absorbing the weight of what had just been said.<\/p>\n
It was not a history lesson. It was testimony.<\/p>\n
![\"People\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/DSC07682-2-1024x576.jpg\")
Kiyo Sato and PBS KVIE\u2019s Rob Stewart speak at The Jacquelyn on Feb. 2, 2026. (Martin Christian)<\/p>\n
A life of service after confinement<\/p>\n
After the war, the Sato family worked as laborers in Colorado before returning to Sacramento to rebuild their lives. Sato chose a path defined by service, enrolling in the United States Air Force Nurse Corps. She eventually achieved the rank of captain before returning home to raise a family.<\/p>\n
She is the mother of four children, all adopted. Today, she is the matriarch of five generations, more than 50 people spanning all races, beliefs and backgrounds.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe look like the United Nations,\u201d Sato said with a smile.<\/p>\n
Service to her country, for her, was never incidental. It was a declaration that what had been done to her would not limit what she could give.<\/p>\n
A daughter raised on advocacy <\/p>\n
Cia Vancil, 66, the oldest of Sato\u2019s four children, said advocacy was not something her mother taught intentionally. It was simply how she lived.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s always been actively speaking for herself and for others,\u201d Vancil said. \u201cEverything she\u2019s done in her life has been about service. Being a nurse. Being a veteran. Advocating for common folk.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adoption, Vancil said, was never hidden or complicated in their household.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe told us from the beginning, you were specially picked,\u201d she said. \u201cAs an adopted child, that changes everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
The family\u2019s diversity was visible and celebrated. When they went out together, strangers often remarked that they looked like the United Nations. For Vancil, that was not unusual. It was home.<\/p>\n
Discovering how little is taught about internment <\/p>\n
Despite growing up with her mother\u2019s story, Vancil said she was still shocked by how little the Japanese-American internment was covered in school.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my history book, it was two paragraphs,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
At The Jacquelyn, audience members echoed that disbelief. Some approached Sato afterward with maps of Sacramento, asking where she had been followed by police in 1942. They wanted to drive the same routes. To stand where she stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey wanted to feel it,\u201d Vancil said, \u201cbecause this happened right here.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Book\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/DSC07677-2-1024x576.jpg\")
Author Kiyo Sato\u2019s book \u201cKiyo\u2019s Story.\u201d (Martin Christian)<\/p>\n
Advocacy at 102<\/p>\n
Sato\u2019s concern for others has not dimmed with age.<\/p>\n
Vancil recently watched her mother write a letter to U.S. Rep. Ami Bera after witnessing a homeless man in crisis at a McDonald\u2019s. Police were called, but the man was simply sent away, not connected to help.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt 102, she was furious,\u201d Vancil said. \u201cShe would not let it go. She was on her laptop writing about how we need to help people, not discard them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Every Sunday morning, Sato meets friends for coffee. Every Sunday night, Vancil brings groceries and cooks dinner with her mother. Even then, Sato is often writing, organizing or advocating.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s steady,\u201d Vancil said. \u201cConsistent. That\u2019s who she\u2019s always been.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019ve seen this before\u2019<\/p>\n
When Sato speaks about the present day, she is deliberate.<\/p>\n
\u201cLosing humanity,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve seen this before.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sato\u2019s says her experience is relevant to today\u2019s immigration crisis. Her talk comes on the heels of months of intense immigration enforcement and protest. When asked if it is fair to compare her experience to current events, Sato said \u201cabsolutely, 100 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n
She is deeply concerned by what she views as the erasure of history and the treatment of vulnerable communities. Speaking in her own words, she says watching current events unfold is a heartache.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel terribly,\u201d Sato said. \u201cRepeating history again. I have friends in fear. I know that fear.\u201d<\/p>\n
She frames her concern not as political rhetoric, but as lived recognition.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are not many people my age alive,\u201d she said. \u201cIf there were, this might not be happening.\u201d<\/p>\n
Everything she does, she repeats, is \u201cfor the sake of the children.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her next book, she has hinted, will include what she calls a \u201cBill of Rights for children.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be loved. To be nurtured. To feel wanted. No matter what,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
A night that stayed with people<\/p>\n
For Mary Daffin, co-owner of The Jacquelyn, listening to Sato\u2019s story was deeply moving.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was humbling seeing and hearing firsthand that the plight of 120,000 American citizens was reduced to just a few paragraphs in my history books,\u201d Daffin said, adding that she was angered it took nearly 50 years for the government to issue an apology.<\/p>\n
Daffin said what struck her most was Sato\u2019s resilience and her continued engagement with the world. \u201cI was surprised by how engaged she is in current politics, her family, and that she still has a California driver\u2019s license,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She described the evening as sobering and authentic. \u201cIt was a living American history lesson in accepting life on life\u2019s terms, choosing to continue, and building a life still rooted in the American Dream, even when your rights were stripped from you,\u201d Daffin said.<\/p>\n
![\"Woman\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/DSC07697-2-1024x576.jpg\")
Author Kiyo Sato at The Jacquelyn on Feb. 2, 2026. (Martin Christian) <\/p>\n
Still speaking, still teaching <\/p>\n
For Sato, the work continues. Her next event is a private discussion with survivors and students at the California Museum as part of the Day of Remembrance.<\/p>\n
At 102, she understands time is finite. That knowledge fuels urgency, not despair.<\/p>\n
She does not ask audiences to panic. She asks them to pay attention. To remember what happens when fear goes unchallenged. To care for one another, starting with children.<\/p>\n
\u201cI tell this story because I lived it,\u201d Sato said.<\/p>\n
And because she believes it does not have to happen again.<\/p>\n
Rob Stewart is an executive producer and host with PBS KVIE, and reports for Abridged. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Abridged version: A local author describes her family\u2019s experience of being removed from their Sacramento home and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":165163,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[5592,121,123,122],"class_list":{"0":"post-165162","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sacramento","8":"tag-feature","9":"tag-sacramento","10":"tag-sacramento-headlines","11":"tag-sacramento-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165162\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Woman\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/DSC07647-2-1024x576.jpg\")
Author Kiyo Sato. (Martin Christian)<\/p>\n