<Begin Segment 3>

TI: And so how did your mother and father meet?

EBA: As far as, as best I can determine, they met in Modesto, California, where the farm was that the family had moved to. And they met at the First Baptist Church in Modesto. And that's about all I know about how they met.

TI: At that point was your father involved with the church, or was this...

EBA: He was, yeah, very much involved with the church. He had been ordained by the church as a pastor at that time and so I assume, I know my mother has a heritage of faith that goes way back and so I assume she was a participating member of the church there and made that connection there.

TI: And also, when you say history, so she was also Baptist in terms of that background?

EBA: Yeah. From what I see in my lineage and my heritage, we come from a long line of Baptists.

TI: Because at this point, your mother actually lived in the state of Washington, didn't she, at this point? Her family?

EBA: Well, to be honest with you, I'm not sure what the connection is or the transition is from California to Washington, because they were married in 1917 in Orting, Washington. And I know that my mother's side, there was some family up in this area, in the Puyallup and Orting area. Now, what, why they moved up here to be married, I have no idea.

TI: Okay, that's, I was curious. But they did move up here?

EBA: Yes.

TI: And well, he, while, when they came to Seattle, what did they do?

EBA: Well, he came, when they came up here, he enrolled at the University of Washington and took two, actually two BA degrees in education and sociology. And he continued, after he moved up here, to work in the minorities, again in, in the International District with the Chinese and Japanese. And out of that came a call to be the, the Nisei pastor at Japanese Baptist Church.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2004 Densho. All Rights Reserved.