Theodore Sakaye Kobayashi
Theodore Kobayashi as a young boy pictured with his parents and younger sister
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"Theodore Kobayashi was a native Floridan born and raised in Yamato [Colony], FL...[He] was part of the second generation which helped stabilized the population of the tiny community and prolong its existence into the 1930's and early 40's. The Kobayashi family was one of the last to remain in Yamato. Although Yamato had practically ceased to exist as a viable community some years before, its history ends in 1942 with the eviction of the Koayashis from their farm after a federal judge condemned virtually all Japanese-owned farmland in the area for construction of an Army-Air Corps training facility."*
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"After graduating from high school, Kobayashi enrolled at the Unviersity of Florida, where he studied architecture. He did not complete hid studies, but instead left school after two years to join a landscaping firm established by his father...Theodore Kobayashi made landscaping his career, remaining with the company he helped establish until his death. At the same time he pursued drag racing as an avocation for which he had a passion."*
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1940 Seminole Yearbook
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"During the war years Kobayashi shared the indignities which government action brought upon his family on the basis of ethnic origin...Shortly after the outbreak of hostilities with Japan, two Coast Guard servicemen were billeted at the Kobayashi home for the family's protection and to prevent them from engaging in espionage or sabotage activities...When their property was confiscated the Kobayashis moved temporarily to Delray Beach before relocating permanently to Ft. Lauderdale...Theodore Kobayashi died on December 18, 1989, at the age of 68, after a long illness."*
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