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GY: And we did want a family, but we wanted to save enough money for the house, too. And in our minds in terms of family -- I think this is true of most Niseis -- grow up, get married, and have a family and a house kind of thing. We didn't think, should we or should we not have a family, have kids? That was not much of a choice for some reason. It was a choice and yet it wasn't -- everyone did it. [Laughs] So we tried. We started a family, but the family didn't want to come to us. We couldn't start. We started it. We started. We started. Nothing happened. Eventually, we thought, well, we still would like a family. So we looked into the adoption process. And the easiest way to do this at that time, back in '52, was to consult with the adoption agency of the county welfare department -- social welfare department. So we went to the Contra Costa Social Welfare Department to inquire about the adoption and learn more about the procedure, requirements, financial cost, et cetera, et cetera, and also I think we may have gone to more of a private, nonprofit organization called Children's Home Society and got further information and requirements, well, do you have to have a full-blooded Japanese child? Do you have any other preferences? Are you -- what about, do you want an infant? Do you want -- is it okay to, would you like to adopt or can you, would you adopt an older child, et cetera, et cetera? How would you feel if your child doesn't go to college? All these questions.

And after our initial home study or several initial home studies, we were given a call to let us know that they had a child, a biracial child. [Interruption] But nevertheless, we went and advanced to a point where we were to meet the child. So we went to the welfare office and rendezvoused with our first son. And what shall I say? It was pretty exciting. And he came with his daily schedule. He gets up at so-and-so, and he eats this for breakfast and he takes a nap, with full instructions. [Laughs] That's sure neat. And we gave him a name, Cole, after both Cole Porter or Nat King Cole, and Koji is my father's name, Yoshida. And brought him home, and he became our first son. That was 1954, somewhere around there. And that was the beginning of our family.

And soon after that, about fifteen months, we thought, boy, about that time, sure would be nice to have a brother for Cole because we were, we had such good luck with, with him in terms of raising him and so forth. He was all scheduled except for one thing. He was subject to some kind of allergy to milk or something or other to eat. And he, because of this allergy, he, he had a case of eczema, I guess it was. He started to scratch, and so he had a pretty hard time with that. Other than that, he was very healthy. Handsome. I'm kind of partial to biracial children in that respect. And that was Cole. And then soon after that, we inquired about a brother. And -- yes, we, and we got a call saying they had another child. And he was biracial. [Interruption] And so we brought him home again. And his name's Clay Masao Yoshida. Masao is his other grandfather's name, Helen's father's name. It's kind of interesting because although they're both Yoshidas, they're so different, and each human being is different. I understand that. But entirely different. [Interruption] Raising him was, was neat for both of these boys.

And then, thought, God, we had such a good time here, easy time. Be nice to have a girl. Lo and behold, after some time, we got a call from the agency -- either one of the child services. I forgot which one was which. But nevertheless, they had a child for us, which we went to visit and to meet and say hello at the office. And she had a little rash on the face, and the social worker said, oh, don't be too concerned about her skin because she, she said that she was somehow, some kind of reaction to the food. And after the initial meeting, after about a week or two, or two, if we decided upon final adoption, we were to pick her up, which we did, and brought her home. And her name is Maia Toshiko Yoshida. Maia is a somewhat exotic name, I guess. It's Maia, sort of Swedish word. Also Maia is the mother of Buddha. I think with the -- so it nice saying Maia Yoshida. These children are rather exotic, I think, and were given -- instead of Mary or something like that, with nice name, and Helen was very particular about syllables and the sound. And I think it's a really nice name. And brought her home, and a lively young lady, who, as she grew up, enjoyed playing with the boys, in the back yard playing "Cowboys and Indians" kind of thing, kind of thing. Very athletic. And, well, we can talk about that later.

Then -- Helen was the only girl in the family, so she always wanted a sister, so another child. [Laughs] And we found her, they found one for us. [Interruption] Brought her home. We called her Lian, L-i-a-n, Lian Tosh -- let's see. Lian -- oh, gosh. This is embarrassing. [Laughs] Lian -- she does have a Japanese name. Toshiko... oh, yes. I know. (Kayoko). Well, anyway, it will come to me. I'm having a senior moment. But Lian, a very lively girl with a cute, raspy voice. She looks more Latina. Just really a cute girl. High energy.

Anyway, this is our family. That's how we started out, four adoptees, biracial, from different backgrounds. And -- but very special in how they looked, and so exotic in the facial features, so forth. And --

AI: Well, for the time -- at that time, in the '50s, 1950s, that was rather unusual.

GY: I suppose so. I didn't know of, of any other families.

AI: For, for Niseis couples to adopt and...

GY: Yeah. And if they did adopt, they wouldn't say, "We have adopted children." It was something that was sort of kept under... family secret kind of thing. In fact, they didn't even tell the child that he or she was adopted in those days. It was not recommended. But when we adopted children -- excuse me -- we were told to tell them the true story at the beginning. And we did. And they grew up in that manner, this, as our children, but way back they knew, they knew they were adopted. They were called "chosen children." But that was not, never a problem. Never a problem in terms of our relationship with them and theirs with ours and with each other, too. There was no connection in terms of the bloodline kind of thing.

<End Segment 41> - Copyright © 2002 Densho. All Rights Reserved.