MUKILTEO — As a boy, Mas Odoi dug clams on the Mukilteo waterfront.
Japanese Gulch, now uninhabited, contained a thriving neighborhood with sports fields, vegetable gardens and fish ponds. Then called Japan Town, the valley was named for the families, including Odoi’s, who came there from Japan to work at a waterfront sawmill.
Odoi was born there in 1921.
“It was just an ideal place to grow up,” said Odoi, now 87. Odoi and his family moved away from Mukilteo in 1930 when the mill closed. He did not return to the area until the 1980s.
Odoi talked about his childhood in Mukilteo on Thursday as he was honored by the Mukilteo Historical Society as its Pioneer of the Year. He’ll ride in a 1920s Model-T during the Lighthouse Festival Parade Sept. 6. in Harbour Pointe.
Regarding the honor, Odoi said, “I was kind of reluctant; I’d been gone away for so long, but I love Mukilteo,” he said.
His family lived on the Long Beach Peninsula and later was held in a work camp in Idaho during World War II. Mas Odoi then fought for the United States, and was wounded in Europe during the war. He married, had children and lived for many years in Chicago and California.
When Odoi and his wife returned to the area — he now lives in Everett — he was surprised how much Mukilteo had grown.
“I think Mukilteo only had about 500 people when I left, and when I came back it had about 15,000,” he said.
Returning has brought surprises, some pleasant, some not, he said. A lot has happened to the beach. An Air Force tank farm was built on the north waterfront, and the beach where he dug clams disappeared.
“Now it’s just a jumble of big rocks,” Odoi said.
The pleasant surprises, he said, included the spirit of volunteerism and pride in Mukilteo, which he said is much stronger than he saw in other places where he lived.
He’d like to see the waterfront redeveloped to show off its natural beauty.
“We really have something special in Mukilteo,” he said.
Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com.
Mas Odoi
1921: Born in Mukilteo.
1930: Family moves to the Long Beach Peninsula.
1942: Family is sent to an internment camp in Minidoka,Idaho.
1945: Odoi is wounded fighting for the U.S. Army in Italy.
1980s: Odoi returns to the Puget Sound area.
Mas Odoi was featured in a two-part series by Yoshiaki Nohara, “A Place of Happiness and Peace,” in December 2006. The story can be found at www.heraldnet.com/masodoi.
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