Ella C. Evanson

Middle school teacher to many Nisei in the Seattle area. A longtime teacher at George Washington School in Seattle, Ella C. Evanson (1890–1986), collected the writings of her Japanese American students before and after their confinement in American concentration camps during World War II. A native of North Dakota, she began her teaching career there. After serving as a clerk in the office of the adjutant general of the army in Washington, DC, during World War I, she moved to Washington state, where she began teaching in 1926. After teaching at B. F. Day Elementary in Seattle, she moved to Washington middle school in 1928, teaching 7th and 8th graders there until retiring in 1956. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Evanson encouraged her students to write about their feelings and continued to collect their writings after they were forcibly removed. The student writings were eventually donated to the University of Washington. Yook K. Pak's 2002 book, Wherever I Go, I Will Always Be a Loyal American: Schooling Seattle’s Japanese Americans During World War II , is based on Evanson's collection. She died in January 1986 at the age of 88.