<Begin Segment 22>

TI: Going through, I mean, was it clear to you the impact the impact that your father had on the Japanese community? I mean, he had, the things that he had done were pretty extraordinary. I mean, when you mentioned earlier that your dad was very prominent, what did that mean to you in terms of what he had been doing within the community?

EBA: Well, for me personally, it meant that I had to be careful how I carried myself and what I did. But it was easy to realize for me what an impact he had on the community because they, I mean, one time they bought him a new car. They had a big huge dinner, maybe it was at Nisei Veterans Hall. I can't remember where it was, no, at Olympic downtown, I guess it was. Yeah, I think it was called "To Andy With Love." It was just a recognition of my dad and all the work he had done and it was just a love feast, really. And the whole Japanese community was able to extend their love and so forth to him for all the work he had done. And then, in, I think it was 1976 it was, he received a decoration from the Emperor of Japan, the Fifth Order of the Sacred Treasure. And I have the medal in my possession today. But it was a very unusual honor because he was the, I think only the second Caucasian to ever receive this high honor. It was a very high honor. And so there's immense sense of pride in thinking about my father and the things he did, and so it wasn't hard to realize the impact that he had on the community.

TI: Yeah, I know there are many people in the community who, who think so highly of your family and in particular the things that your father did. During this period, when you thought about all the things your father did for the community, how did that impact the family in the sense of, were there times when your family had to do without because he was in some ways doing so much for the community? Can you talk a little bit about that?

EBA: Well, I remember, we were never destitute, but I remember my mother always had to work to help support the family. And Dad, for many years he was the custodian, also he tended the furnace at Japanese Baptist Church and so forth 'cause we couldn't afford to hire someone to do that. But I think because of his... well, let me say this. I think there were issues driving him behind his participation in the community. My mother and dad divorced in 1955 and I remember one time my dad telling me that he knew, not too long after they were married, that the marriage was not gonna work. And so I think in grief over his own failed marriage, he threw himself into, into the work of the community and so forth. And as a result, there, to be honest, there's an emotional, or there was an emotional estrangement between my father and me. There wasn't that emotional connection. It was, we never did anything one-on-one. We never -- well, from my mother either -- we never heard, "I love you," or any hugs like that. But it was, I knew my father loved me, but it was -- and this may seem odd -- but it seemed like he always spoke to me through the group, whether it be a group of scouts, a group of youth going to a picnic or something like that. And I don't know how I can explain what I'm saying by that, but rather than having the one-on-one intimacy of father/son, it was just from the fact of being included in these groups. He spoke to me in that way as "I love you," there's a relationship here. But is was a difficult, it was difficult time. And so my mother and my father were separate in the same house for as far back as I can remember. And that's, that's a story that is not unusual for anyone who has been a high profile person in any endeavor. And sometimes I think that we do things out of our own need if, out of the voids in our own lives. We fill that void in some other way. And I think my father had a huge amount of love and commitment to give, but it wasn't to his family, it was to the community.

TI: And do you think that was pretty well-understood by the other family members? Was that, or accepted, I mean, was that, or was it a source of friction and resentment, or was it more understood? How would you...

EBA: Yeah, it was a source of resentment to the rest of the family, except for my oldest sister. She is a lot older than the rest of us and she had gone on and picked up her own life and was on her own from early on. But it yes, honestly it's a source or was a source of friction within our family and my youngest sister, who is eight years older than I am, she has some, some resentments about my father and I knew about all of these things, but really was kind of in denial of these things until I engaged in them for myself in the last several years.

<End Segment 22> - Copyright © 2004 Densho. All Rights Reserved.