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VY: Okay, so let's talk about after Topaz. So your parents returned to Topaz, and before they went to camp, did they own any property?

JF: No, they did not. They did not. They did store whatever they could, again, at Buena Vista, at the church.

VY: To Alameda?

JF: Yes.

VY: And what was life like for them? At this point they had three kids, and your mother was pregnant.

JF: Pregnant with a fourth, yes. And so they came back to Alameda, we came back to Alameda, and we spent... we were offered, because we had no place to go, we were offered, the church turned into a hostel, more or less, as most churches did. And prior to the war, my mother, of course, was very, very active in the church. So she, they invited our family to live in the church, which we did. And we took, we lived in a brown, very big brown shingle building, which served as, it was a two-story building, which served as the sanctuary of the church. And then the lower floors were Sunday School rooms, or meeting rooms, so our family lived there. But there was no plumbing. Electricity, yes. And heating, I think, was kerosene lamps or kerosene heaters. But you know, they had no choice, they had no choice. And there were maybe four or five, six other families that returned to the church as well and were offered housing. So, yeah. And again, my mother was pregnant with David when we returned to Alameda. So it had to be very difficult raising, just having toddlers. But again, it was that community that was so supportive, and it was just one big family. We were a big extended family to each other, supporting each other, raising the children together, cooking together, because there was no kitchen where we were living, so we shared a kitchen in the big Queen Anne building that was in the front of the church property. And yeah, so there again, it was another time when we developed real close relations with friends.

VY: And did your parents work during this time?

JF: My dad did, my mother couldn't. So he found a job at a produce company in Oakland, that was his background. We knew folks who owned a produce company, so he got a job there. But again, here comes this big family, and he's got to support them, us. So he would take on other jobs. Gardening was a big thing for many of the Nisei men that returned. And I remember hearing a story about how several of them, including my dad, got together, bought a wagon and tools together, and formed kind of a little gardening crew that went to different homes to do their gardens, maintain their gardens. So he also... my mother's belongings, their belongings, their family belongings again were stored at the church. And the Caucasian minister who was assigned to look over the property during our absence, was Reverend Cobb, John Cobb, and he and my parents became just really good friends. So he watched the properties and watched all the belongings, and he was also associated with the Twin Towers Methodist Church here in Alameda, which was a Caucasian Methodist church. And so when Dad needed more work, they offered, that church offered him a job as custodian, so he took that on as well. So I would say, growing up, Daddy had to work, very difficult, and most often it was three jobs during the week that he would have to attend to. And I do remember growing up every Saturday as a custodian of the church, he would go and clean it and prepare it for the following Sunday. And we would tag along, I guess we were asked and invited to go and dust the pews, it was a big church. Dust the pews and help vacuum. So we learned early on that we had certain responsibilities as well within our family to help poor Daddy.

VY: Did you like doing that, going out with your dad and cleaning the pews, dusting the pews?

JF: I didn't mind, it was just something that... I guess certain things are expected. Certain things are understood that we had to do, we had to do. And we did that for many years.

VY: I'm curious how your dad, he had all these different jobs, how did he get around? Like how did he get to Oakland?

JF: Oh, he had a car. He was able to buy a car, so he did that. My mother, of course, didn't drive. She didn't drive, learn to drive until she was much older. When we were growing up it was Daddy who took us everywhere.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.