<Begin Segment 36>

AI: Well, then at some point you and Art had discussed moving and leaving Chicago. And how did that come up? Why were you, why did you consider that?

BS: Well, because Art was a mechanic, auto mechanic, and, you know, the winters are terrible. And summers are terrible, hot and humid. And it was coming to the point where he worked for a dealer and the ventilation was not that good. In the wintertime it's cold so they close all the doors or they're supposed to be, they would put hoses to the exhaust and that, but it wasn't, there were still fumes. And so he would come home from work and he would have headaches, headaches that wouldn't go away with aspirins. And so we figured it's carbon monoxide poisoning. And so, and then the summers it'd be so hot and then he'd, they don't have air conditioning, and then you're working on hot engines. And this one place he was working, he was working right below a skylight. And so it was hot. And he said someone had put a thermometer, I don't know what it was, it was like hundred fifteen, hundred twenty or something. And we knew that he should get away from that. And then his, one of his sister's husband, Joe Nishimura, he had been born in Los Gatos, which is near San Jose. And he wanted to return to that area 'cause the weather was so nice and everything. So he moved in, around 1962. And then one of Art's other sisters, Susie and her, her husband worked for Lockheed -- he was being transferred to Lockheed in California, so they were moving. And so his brother-in-law, Joe, moved out to San Jose and got a Shell dealership, 'cause he also was a mechanic. So then he, and then another good friend of ours, five years later, who also worked with Art at the same dealership, he moved five years later. And he got a Shell dealership. And he kept calling Art and saying, "Oh, you gotta move out here," and that and so we were kind of hemming and hawing. And I don't know how many years it took us to finally decide to move, because we figured we had to move before the kids got too old, then it would be difficult for them to make the change. So they were still in grammar school. So we decided to make the move, although I really didn't want to in some ways because my family was in Chicago, plus I didn't know how to drive and I knew if I moved to California I'm gonna have to learn how to drive. And there were reports that California was gonna slide in the ocean from the earthquake and that was another, because we had a friend whose -- that I knew from the PTA -- whose brother lived in Southern California and I think he was a dentist or something. He had a thriving business. But because of the fear of earthquake and sliding into the ocean, he actually moved from Southern California to Michigan. And so, I said, "Oh, I'm afraid of the earthquakes plus having to drive." But for Art's health we felt that we should move so we made the move in '71.

AI: Oh, and then I think Art had mentioned to me that he also got his citizenship.

BS: Yes, just prior to moving. Well, when we, after, well Art had, you know, while he was denied citizenship even though he served in the army during the Korean War, although he was sent to Europe. And he was refused citizenship. But when he, they told him to come back to Chicago and go to the immigration and so after we were married in '55, in 1956 he had, from the Chicago immigration office, he was directed to go to Canada and report to the immigration there and then return. It's just like go across, same day, and come back. And then we'd have his papers signed so that would be his legal entry in 1956. And then they told, then he brought the papers back to Chicago Immigration office. And so Art said, "Can I have my citizenship now since I served in the army and I got legal, I have legal entry now?" And they said, "No, you have to wait five years and become naturalized on top of it." He would have to take the test. So at this point he was so... he said well, at least he got his permanent residency. So he would, he was putting it off but I told him, I would kind of nag him and say, "I think we should get it." And he says, "Yeah, yeah, yeah." But when we finally decided to move he thought he better get it so he did get it before we, we moved.

<End Segment 36> - Copyright © 2003 Densho. All Rights Reserved.