<Begin Segment 24>

TI: Well, during this period, in terms of your career, what were you thinking for yourself in terms of a career?

EBA: Well, at that time I was thinking of going into ministry myself. And so after graduation from Seattle Pacific College, my wife and I, at that time went down to Berkeley, California and I attended Berkeley Baptist Divinity School.

TI: And about what time period was this?

EBA: This was, let's see, we went down there in 1962.

TI: Okay.

EBA: I took five years or more to get through college, so... [laughs]

TI: Well, I did, too. [Laughs] But this was the same seminary that your father went to?

EBA: Yes, the same seminary where my father attended.

TI: Now, was there anything symbolic about that? Did you want to attend that one or, because your father had, or, why choose that one?

EBA: Probably because my dad was there, or had been there. And even thinking, re-thinking again that whole era of, regarding myself and did I have a call to ministry and did I feel, or was this something that I'm doing because my dad was a pastor? And some of it, I think, maybe could have been, you know, growing up I would hear phrases like, "Oh, you're just like your dad," or "You'd make your dad so proud if you were to go into the ministry." And so that was the track I was on at that time. And I didn't graduate from there, I pulled out about halfway through. And so I never did anything with that particular education until several years ago when I came on staff at a church.

TI: Well, during that period, so we're like mid-'60s when you decided to pull out. Did you ever have a conversation with your father about your decision not to continue the studies?

EBA: It's interesting that, well, first of all, I never heard from my dad saying, "Oh, I'm so proud that you're going to seminary," especially Berkeley Baptist Divinity School. When I withdrew... I had written him a letter before I withdrew and came back to Seattle. And probably that was the closest thing to an intimate conversation I ever had with my father, was writing that letter to him. And, 'cause I had some real doubts about if I was in the right place and on the right track and so forth. It is so strange, so weird, though, that he never, we never really talked about it much after that, or I don't recall any conversations after I moved back to Seattle about why I dropped out, or any disappointment that he may have had. I mean, it was really a strange relationship in the lack of intimacy in that. Cordial, casual, yeah, great, but not that intimate relationship.

<End Segment 24> - Copyright © 2004 Densho. All Rights Reserved.>