People : Grace Iwanaga
Grace Iwanaga
The Strawberry Lady
While South County is well known for many of its established farms , for years , people came from all around the state and even further to visit one in particular : Iwanaga Farms in Gilroy , beloved for their exceptional strawberries and other produce . Co-owner Grace Shinobu Iwanaga became known as “ The strawberry lady ”— a woman deeply invested in growing unparalleled produce through dedication and hard work , according to her daughter Lisa Sheedy . Iwanaga passed away June 30 , 2020 , but her legacy lives on , not only in the hearts of five living children ( one son passed away ) and nine grandchildren , but in the soil of Gilroy itself , where she and her husband William farmed for over forty years .
By Jordan Rosenfeld
Her son David Iwanaga recalls the passion customers had for their strawberries . “ These guys would call us when they left North Carolina saying ‘ we ’ ll be there in two days .’ They would pull up and load 200 crates of strawberries into their semi and go back to the East Coast . One time I asked them , ‘ What do you do with it all ?’ And he said , “ You guys have the best strawberries in the United States . We sell them .”
At the start of strawberry season , cars would be lined up forty deep or more , Iwanaga said . He tried to convince his mother eventually to create a message machine to relay dates of opening , so people wouldn ’ t have to guess when to drive down , but she refused . “ She said no . If they want strawberries , they ’ ll have to come see if we ’ re open .”
What made their farm so special , says Iwanaga , was Grace and William ’ s incredible work ethic . “ My parents did not believe in using labor contractors , and they never sent payroll out to a payroll service .” Iwanaga remembers helping his mother do the payroll for over 350 employees at the farm ’ s peak .
“ My mom was probably the hardest working woman that I knew . She had six kids , took care of all the paperwork and payroll , and we were never wanting for anything ,” he said .
His mother understood the value of owning a home and a business perhaps more than others — her family were among those Japanese citizens that President Roosevelt unfairly sent to internment camps in 1942 , through Executive Order 9066 .
Ten-year-old Grace was confined in US concentration camps for three years with her twelve siblings and parents . They initially lived in horse stalls and barracks at Santa Anita Park , the well-known horse racing track located in Arcadia , California , which was closed due to WWII and converted to the temporary “ Santa Anita Assembly Center ” From there , they were relocated to Heart Mountain concentration camp in Cody , Wyoming .
32 SUMMER 2021 gmhTODAY Magazine gmhtoday . com