Sarah Denise Ioane, Salt Lake City, UT: an interview by Savani Aupiu, 7 November 2008: Pacific Islanders Oral History Project, U-1953

Transcript (40 pages) of an interview by Savani Aupiu with Sarah Denise Ioane. Part of the Pacific Islanders Oral History Project, Everett Cooley Collection tape no. U-1953

Sarah Ioane (b. 1984) was born in Provo, Utah, and at the time of the interview had spent her whole life there. One of eight children, her parents were Mormon converts who met in Virginia when her father was in the Navy. Her mother is mostly white but one eighth Choctaw, and her father, from Kailua, Hawaii, is Hawaiian, Chinese and Japanese. Her parents suffered substantial racial unpleasantness from family when they got married. Sarah remembers always having foster children in the house, and her parents ran a day care as well. She got her first job at thirteen, working at Data Pad, and held several other jobs before settling down with her husband.Racially, she thought of herself as white growing up but faced discrimination from both sides as being neither "white enough" nor "Polynesian enough." Her father was not interested in transmitting Hawaiian, Japanese or Chinese culture to her, but her uncle Bobby Tau'o introduced Sarah to Hawaiian culture. Sarah participated extensively in dancing and Polynesian culture events in high school, and at the time of the interview was a part of the Living Legends dance troupe. She was very active in school activities and even served as a Utah culture ambassador to the Nagano, Japan, Olympic games. She discusses her high school time at some length. She discusses family life extensively, and remembers a tumultuous childhood but gets along with her siblings well now that all are grown. In her discussion of family roles and expectations, Sarah relates that her parents were very pro-education and pro-activity, and helped her and her siblings do anything they could. She took a degree in public health from BYU, after three years of nursing, and would like to return to nursing one day. Deeply religious, Sarah talks about her faith, her parents' faith, and her unease with seeing family members falling away from the LDS Church. Sarah is very committed to serving others, and would like to one day join the Peace Corps. Project: Pacific Islanders. Interviewer: Savani Aupiu