The Matriarch Meetings
Caroline Taketa
Grandmother: Sally Taketa
Caroline Taketa is a Junior at the University of Michigan with a focus on Information Technologies, Communications, and Data Analytics. Sally Taketa is 103 years old and Caroline's paternal grandmother.
Caroline Taketa talks about her 103 year old grandmother, Sally Taketa. Sally has lived an extraordinary life, from living through the Japanese Internment Camps to helping organize reparations for Japanese Americans with Ronald Regan. Caroline discusses the self discipline and strong independence that are huge parts of her grandmother's personality, and how this has formed both Caroline and Caroline's father (Sally's son). Caroline feels she is very similar to her grandmother (a sentiment that both Mollie Berglund and Charity Nighswonger share), especially when it comes to a desire for independence.
Part One
Part Two
Caroline describes how her grandmother holds on to her independence with an iron grip, and despises needing help. This is yet another trait that is very similar to Mollie Berglund's story. She goes on to describe her expansive family's dynamic, and how its come under strain since her father and uncle had a falling out. Her grandmother was forced to choose between her two sons' perspectives, and landed on the opposite side of Caroline and her father. The result was a new strain on Caroline and her grandmother's relationship, and would lead to a deeply hurtful slight involving Sally's hundredth birthday. Caroline is careful to distinguish her relationship with her grandmother from other grandchildrens' experience by emphasizing that her grandmother does not act as a "second parent". This is a major difference from Mollie Berglund and Charity Nighswonger who both grew up with their grandmother acting as nearly second guardians.
