Becoming Mama-San: 80 Years of Wisdom

Mary Matsuda Gruenewald will be 87 years old when her third book is published in Spring 2012. She is a dynamic, riveting public speaker who proudly shares her life lessons as a seasoned octogenarian. Gruenewald's vision with this new book is to share her life stories in hopes of imparting hard-earned life insights that may be helpful to younger generations looking for guidance and elder wisdom. In her first book, Gruenewald broke her silence as a Nisei (second generation Japanese American) who was imprisoned in Japanese-American internment camps during World War II. David Guterson, author of Snow Falling on Cedars, describes her memoir as "a painfully honest narrative of imprisonment.... a valuable contribution to the literature of Japanese-American internment." Her second book, a Young Reader's edition of her memoir, now reaches young people just learning about world history and the Japanese-American internment camps of World War II. Gruenewald began writing in her seventies, and hasn't stopped since. She worked as an R.N. for more than a quarter of a century and during that time established the Consulting Nurse Service, which has become a national model for numerous health care providers. She also raised three children in an interracial marriage, which was not widely accepted at the time. In her seventies, Gruenewald began taking writing classes, and published her first book at eighty. Gruenewald also consulted with the National Park Service during its establishment of Minidoka Internment Camp as a National Park. In 2003, she received an Asian American Living Pioneer Award honoring her contributions. Gruenewald speaks to numerous groups about her internment camp experiences, and now, will promoting her wisdom as an 87-year-old elder. Gruenewald's articles have appeared in newspapers nationally, and she has presented commentaries for NPR KPLU, Seattle. She lives in Seattle, Washington.