JEANNE MURAMOTO ELYEA, ALUMNA
Jeanne Marumoto Elyea was born in National City, California in 1939. The Marumoto family lived and farmed in the Tijuana River Valley, near the border between Mexico and the United States. After Japan attacked the United States in 1941, in compliance with Executive Order 9066, signed by President Delano Roosevelt, Jeanne and her family were forced to live in a Japanese American internment camp in Poston, Arizona. After World War II ended, Jeanne and her family returned to farming in the South Bay area where she attended elementary and high school.
Jeanne enrolled in San Diego City College’s, Medical Assistant Training Program and graduated in 1958. She went on to obtain a B.S.N. (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) and an M.S in Environmental Health. She also became a certified Nurse Practitioner, Occupational Health Nurse, Public Health Nurse, Legal Nurse Consultant, and served as the campus nurse at Southwestern College from 1974 to 1999. Jeanne’s biographical essay focuses on her experiences during and after World War II and incorporates scholarly sources discussing America’s internment camps.
