USA: Women weren't really allowed to own businesses, Munekiyo recalls on eve of a century of the good life

. KENNEWICK, Washington / Tri-City Herald / Mid-Columbia News / March 22, 2009 Tri-City family plans celebration of a century By Dori O'Neal, Herald staff writer Mary Munekiyo is one of those spitfires who has never let herself get too old. "I like to think that a part of me will always be a kid," said Munekiyo, who turns 100 years old Monday. To celebrate a century of the good life, her family is holding a soiree to honor the feisty 4-foot-6 Munekiyo, who owned the former Eddie's Cafe in downtown Pasco for years. The party starts at 2 p.m. at Hawthorne Court Retirement Center, 524 N. Ely St., Kennewick. The public is invited. Munekiyo, one of nine children, was born and raised in Pasco, graduating from Pasco High School in 1926. Her dad, Harry Yamauchi, was raised in Japan but later emigrated to Hawaii and moved to the Mid-Columbia in 1906. Seven of the nine Yamauchi children were born in the Tri-City area, Munekiyo said. "It was very important to my Dad that we all speak English growing up," she said. "Even though he had a tough time understanding English himself he always told us that we were Americans and Americans speak English." Munekiyo's father was a merchant during the early part of the last century, owning such businesses as a fish market, grocery and pool hall. "He was very involved in the community and he would go to the chamber of commerce meetings and when I was 10 years old he would take me along with him so I could interpret when he didn't understand what was being talked about," she said. She also endured prejudice during World War II. In 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt signed an internment order, which included Western Washington, for those of Japanese lineage. The dividing line was the Columbia River, which meant anyone with Japanese ancestry could still live in Franklin County while those in Benton County were taken to internment camps. "I couldn't go over to Kennewick," she told the Herald in 1991. "We were restricted from there, and there were places restricted to us in Pasco." Today, that memory lingers, but she holds no animosity. Her early introduction to business, as well as community involvement, led Munekiyo into the restaurant business and Eddie's Cafe at 220 W. Lewis St. in Pasco. "She did all that back when women weren't really allowed to own businesses," said Munekiyo's niece, Linda Adkinson of Kennewick. "She's very feisty and has never been timid about standing up for herself." It's true, Munekiyo confessed. "I was the stubborn one in the family. My oldest sister always told me I didn't know how to keep my mouth shut," she said with a mischievous grin. "So I would tell her, 'No I won't because I know I'm right.' " Munekiyo has outlived two husbands, including one who was 10 years younger than she, as well as all of her siblings. She never had any children of her own so she indulged an abundance of nieces and nephews. "On Easter each year, Auntie Mary would buy all the girls dresses and the boys suits, white shirts and those clip-on ties to wear to Sunday church services," Adkinson said. Munekiyo also hasn't lost any of her fashion sense. She has a bounty of dangling earrings, vibrant-colored sweaters that she still wears, and her hair is always in place. Her fashion sense is something she apparently transcended as each generation passed. In the 1960s and 1970s, she wore short skirts and short shorts when they were the rage, Adkinson said. "I remember she had some shiny boots back then, too. Were they go-go boots, Mary?" Adkinson queried her aunt. Munekiyo just smiled with a twinkle in her eye and said nothing. The birthday girl hopes to see many of her friends and acquaintances at today's bash. "If I can make someone feel good I've done my duty," Munekiyo said. "I just like people." And there lies the secret to the fountain of youth. KENNEWICK: March 18, 2009 - Seniors get their Irish fix. Volunteer Patty Lusso serves dinner to Betty Luiten of Kennewick, right, as friends Ardella Winfrey and Gail Cox, left, get ready to eat during the third annual St. Patrick's Dinner & A Bit O'Song Tuesday at the Kennewick Senior Center where 91 people dined on corned beef and cabbage before listening to Carolee Carrara perform. Photo courtesy: Herald/Kai-Huei Yau. © 2009 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press