Farewell to Jeanne: Santa Cruz’s Houston told a story that Americans should never forget

There is a thing called the California Hall of Fame. And even if you’ve never heard of it, you can probably guess who is immortalized there — Ronald Reagan, John Muir, César Chávez. There are even a few there who might surprise you — Dr. Seuss, RuPaul, the Go-Go’s.

Of the 166 names in the arts, sciences, politics, literature, sports and business honored at the California Hall of Fame in Sacramento, only one has significant roots in Santa Cruz County.

Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, part of the hall’s 13th induction class, in 2019, died in December at the age of 90 at her home in Santa Cruz. She was a central figure in Santa Cruz’s literary community for more than 50 years, a curious and lively intellect, and a generous and kind friend to many who loved connecting writers with others who shared their passions. 

But none of that got her the recognition that led to induction into the California Hall of Fame — or similar honors from Japanese American National Museum, the National Women’s Political Caucus and the Japanese American Citizens League. She became a national figure because of a book she co-authored in 1973 with her husband and celebrated writer in his own right, James L. Houston, “Farewell to Manzanar.”

“Manzanar” was a memoir of young Jeanne’s life growing up in one of many incarceration camps across the Western U.S. to which Japanese American families were forcibly removed during World War II. Before the publication of the book, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s infamous Executive Order 9066, which led to American citizens being held captive against their will without trial, was largely obscured in taboo and buried in a politically convenient memory hole. The book, an elegant retelling of the Wakatsuki family’s ordeal in the Manzanar camp in California’s Owens Valley, soon became a curriculum staple in American schools, and because of that widespread exposure in classrooms, what happened to Japanese Americans during the war is now a part of mainstream awareness of 20th-century American history.

Jeanne Houston spent decades after the book’s publication talking to school groups and civic organizations about the book and her experience at Manzanar. She was, however, an unlikely political activist, wary of being defined entirely by her childhood experiences, and eager to pursue other passions, which included running a longtime local film festival, cultivating literary relationships and traveling. Still, she became prominent doing what many other Japanese Americans of her generation would not do, speaking about the camps.

“When she would have speaking engagements,” said daughter Cori Houston, who was in high school when “Manzanar” was published, “in those settings, she was always very forthcoming in answering questions. But, later in life, when I would travel with her and be her escort, I would listen to her answer questions and I’d really learn things.”

UC Santa Cruz professor Gary Griggs was a family friend of Jim and Jeanne Houston in the 1970s, and was part of the circle of friends who gathered at the Houstons’ iconic Twin Lakes house to watch the 1976 made-for-television adaptation of “Manzanar.” (The Houstons got an Emmy nomination for their adapted screenplay.) Griggs said that he remembered Jeanne struggling with coming up with a title for the project, until finally settling on “Farewell to Manzanar” as a fitting coda to facing and transcending a traumatic and formative episode in her life.

“I think the release that she got from writing that book was her way to say farewell to Manzanar,” said Griggs, “that she finally tucked it away, dealt with it and said goodbye to it. And that became a very poignant title that people remembered, even people who had even heard of Manzanar at that point.”

Before Jim Houston’s death in 2009, the Houstons were one of Santa Cruz’s most luminary couples. Jim Houston’s writing career placed him squarely in the legacy of great chroniclers of the California experience, as both an essayist and novelist in landmark books like “Californians: Searching for the Golden State” and “Continental Drift.”

Almost as famous as the Houstons was their magnificent home, made from cherrywood and heart redwood overlooking Schwan Lagoon and East Cliff Drive. The Houstons found the house in the early 1960s, overgrown and damaged. They rented the old house at first, and Jim was already on the road to becoming a great California writer. Jim would write his books freehand and standing in the top-floor cupola of the house. Imagine the Houstons’ delight and surprise, then, when they learned many years later that the house had once belonged to Patty Reed, the youngest survivor of the legendary Donner Party. 

I knew Jeanne Houston for many years, both before the death of her husband and after. I would often visit her at her grand old house and sit in the spacious living room in the dark of the afternoon, sometimes with other writers, sometimes just the two of us. She loved the idea of informal writers salons, and she would rarely talk about her own rich life. Instead, she wanted to hear about my projects, my ideas, my life. And it was during those hours when I would see her passions at work. 

She and Jim, for example, loved Hawaii, but not necessarily like most of us love Hawaii. The Houstons were married on the beach near Waikiki, and both visited the islands several times a year. It was the Houstons’ deep friendship with master ukulele player Eddie Kamae that resulted in a Santa Cruz tradition, the Pacific Rim Film Festival, the theme of which each year was “When Strangers Meet.” Even in the years after Jim’s death, Jeanne was on Oahu was a good part of her calendar year. 

Back in Santa Cruz, the Houstons were at the center of an active and deliberate social network of artists, writers, musicians and thinkers, many of them associated with UC Santa Cruz and Cabrillo College. 

“Their house was always open,” said Jeanne’s longtime friend and artist Linda Craighead. “They always hosted a lot of dinners, and on the beach, we’d all have big paella parties. They were constantly bringing people into Santa Cruz, so you were always meeting new people and trying new things.”

Through the years, Jeanne was on the go. “She was on the board of [the Latino theater group El Teatro Campesino] for years and worked with them as a volunteer. When they did their big ‘Zoot Suit’ tour through Europe, Jeanne was right there with them,” Craighead said. “[The Houston] family lived in England for a while. They spent significant time in Bali. In my relationship with Jeannie, I was constantly discovering things. She really felt strongly about synchronicity and people, and she was always building connections.”

Among her more enduring literary friendships was with Bay Area novelist Maxine Hong Kingston, photos of whom were on the wall of the Houstons’ Santa Cruz home for years. In recent years, she also kept the medal she was awarded at the California Hall of Fame on her mantelpiece, not too far away from another photo, of Gov. Gavin Newsom presenting her with the medal.

The Houstons were an unusually close couple, and when Jim died in 2009, Jeanne struggled to navigate a world she had grown accustomed to sharing with him. She spent some time gathering and preserving her husband’s literary output, “legacy work,” as Cori Houston called it. Then, went about living her life again.

“She was just so resilient,” said her daughter. “She could have gone into a shell. So many times, she could have gone into a dark place. But she never did. She was always looking toward the light.”

A celebration of life for Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston will be held Saturday, March 1, at the Cocoanut Grove in Santa Cruz. The public is invited.

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