<Begin Segment 7>

MA: Where did you go to grade school?

SO: Irving grade school. That was... oh, let me see, it was further (east) of our house. We used to walk to school, I think it must have been about eight, eight or ten blocks. But there were, the only other Japanese that we knew was Migakis, and they were the ones that lived a couple houses from where we were, we lived.

MA: So there was only a couple other Nisei students at the school?

SO: Uh-huh, yes, there were not very many, but they treated us real well.

MA: So you have positive memories of that experience at grade school?

SO: Oh, yes, uh-huh. I had, and then when I went to high school, I remember those students from Irving school. But it was, it was nice, that was a good, nice school, we thought. And then in the wintertime, we would, it's built on a hill, so, their street is just real steep, so my dad would bring us there with our sleds and we'd go down. That was so much fun. That was pretty steep, I wouldn't dare go down it now. [Laughs] But it was lots of fun. But there didn't seem to be any discrimination or anything then.

MA: So most of the other students, then, were Caucasian?

SO: Yes, uh-huh. Yeah, they all lived around... I guess you'd call it the South Hill, and there were some affluent people, affluent people living up there. That was the closest to our, where we lived, so that's why we went there. And the other Niseis lived closer to Lincoln School, and that's where my children went, because after my husband died, I lived in, closer to Lincoln School, and that's where the children...

MA: So you lived kind of, a little bit farther away from the downtown area where the other Niseis were?

SO: Yeah, uh-huh, I did.

MA: How was that? Did you, were you able to interact with that sort of crowd very much?

SO: Well, yes, because we, we went to the same church, and so we got to know each other real well. And some of the people lived... let me see... up on Third Avenue. Yeah, a lot of the people lived up there. It was close to our church, where, our Highland Park Church right now, but it was a little further west. And they went to Lincoln School, too, so... that downtown, they were mostly barbershops and laundries, and what else? Restaurants. And so they, they had houses, the restaurants and things were down on Main Avenue, you know, and Trent, but they lived about, well, up above on Third Avenue.

MA: Did you go into town often, into that area where all the shops were?

SO: Not very often, no, because we were kind of small yet, so we never did. Never did go down there. And my dad used to cut our hair, so we didn't go to a -- [laughs] -- barber shop.

MA: Did you, did your parents do their, like, shopping for food around there?

SO: Yeah, my dad used to do everything. He used to shop for food, and he used to, he liked nice clothes, so he used to shop for material for my mother to make, make clothes, and he used to love cars, too, so he'd get, he'd get a Pontiac or Buick or something, you know, and he liked to decorate it up, and he just loved cars. So I think he was about the third or fourth one that got a car, there weren't very many cars then, you know.

MA: So it must have been pretty special at the time.

SO: Yeah, uh-huh, really liked the cars. We used to, there were how many of us, five, five, six, seven of us in the car. [Laughs] We'd all get in and he'd drive to Wenatchee or Ellensburg and stay overnight, and that was a treat. We had our, our cousin lived in Seattle, so we went to visit them in the summertime. He, he used to get silk material and had my mother make dresses for all of us girls, so we didn't, we didn't buy clothes, we had it all made. My mother made them all.

MA: Was it common when you were growing up for, like, the mothers to sew their children's clothes?

SO: Yes, yes, oh, yes. I think most of them did.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.