YASUKO ANN ITO began her teaching career with a second grade class in a Japanese internment camp in Topaz, Utah, in 1943. Her many teaching experiences in San Mateo County include work with several cooperative nursery schools, Headstart, and a PARCA program for severely retarded children. In 1958, she was a leader in opposition to segregation of schools in San Mateo Elementary District, and then a major figure in Asian, Black and Caucasian communities to implement desegregation policies. She served as a charter member of the first San Mateo City Human Relations Commission, the San Mateo City and County Human Resources Commissions, and the Citizen’s Advisory Committee to the San Mateo Community College District, and was a member of the Board of Trustees of Bay Area United Way. As President of the San Mateo Japanese American Citizens League in 1977, she initiated the 4-year project of funding, researching and writing a history of the Japanese settlement in San Mateo County. The published books and filmstrips were donated to libraries, schools, and universities. Her many honors include Woman of the Year in the City of San Mateo, and community services awards from the Burlingame- San Mateo Soroptimists and the Police Department and North Central neighborhood Association in San Mateo.
