Joan F. Arai was born in in Los Angeles, California in 1908. As a Japanese-American she was forced to live in an interment camp in Colorado during World War II. She moved to Chicago in 1944 and soon became involved in local affairs. Mayor Richard J. Daley appointed her to the Uptown Model Cities Council in 1968. She advocated opening a school in Uptown and remained active in Uptown educational and arts programs throughout her life. Joan F. Arai died in Evanston, Illinois on August 18, 1976. The Hazel-Wilson Middle School, which she fought so hard to establish, was renamed in her honor after her death.