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8 SOLERA DIAMOND VALLEY | SEPTEMBER 2021 By Annette Hillis, Resident One never knows where life will take you – especially in war time. On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt issued an Executive Order resulting in the internment of all residents of Japanese ancestry, both American citizens and immigrants, and confined them in 10 Internment Camps. One such multi-generational family was the Hazemoto family. The Hazemotos were first incarcerated at Heart Mountain in Wyoming, then sent to Tule Lake in California. With the end of WWII, the family returned to Japan. A pivotal moment came when Satsuki, one of the Hazemoto daughters, met and married Frank Doss, an American serviceman stationed there. At the completion of his service, Doss brought his bride home to Kentucky hoping to happily live out their lives. At the time, interracial marriages were illegal in Kentucky. (A similar situation was depicted in the 2016 motion picture Loving.) Frank's family rejected Satsuki outright because of her ethnicity and, with a heavy heart, she moved to Chicago. Here she learned she was pregnant with Frank's child and gave birth to a son. She also contracted tuberculosis and became extremely ill, requiring placement in a sanatorium. This led her to the heartbreaking decision to give up her baby for adoption. Valiant efforts were made with a number of adoption agencies to assist in arranging an adoption for this Japanese American babyåç. All attempts were denied. Enter Pearl S. Buck - the first American female author to win both the Nobel Peace and the Pulitzer Prize. She had started a home in Pennsylvania for such Amerasian children called Welcome House. At that time blended heritage children were considered unadoptable. In 1951, at a railroad station in Chicago, the six-month old baby was given to Ms. Buck as she headed back to Pennsylvania. Because Welcome House was full, she took it upon herself to care for the child. Needing to find him a permanent home led her to mentioning him during a public address. A minister and his wife indicated they would like to become the parents of this boy. They had a four-year-old son, Robert, couldn't conceive another, and wanted a brother for him. That couple was Reverend Roger and Pauline Hillis. Reverend Hillis was the Pastor at the Idyllwild Community Church from 1952-1959 and the Associate Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Hemet from 1969-1986. The child, Gregg Hillis, currently a Solera Diamond Valley resident, became the first child to be adopted from Welcome House. In 1952 James Michener (Pulitzer Prize and Presidential Medal of Freedom awardee) wrote an article for the San Diego Union about Welcome House and Pearl Buck: "On a small farm she gives refuge to children born in America of mixed Asian-American parentage. The children have been deserted and normally they would be as lost in America as the G.I. kids are in Japan." Michener noted that Gregg's parents' trailblazing love resulted in the other children in Welcome House ultimately being adopted. Where Life Takes You