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AI: Well, and you did start telling us earlier, in our interviewing, you did start telling us about how this was also the time when your children were young and you were, you became involved in cooperative daycare, which was then a new idea where the parents were actively involved in conducting the daycare activities.

EH: (Yes), it wasn't actually daycare at that point, because daycare was still a little... most of, in those days, most, a lot of us were stay-at-home moms, and we just, wives just didn't work that much. Unless it was necessary, if you had a family grocery store or something, you would probably expect to go help. But they were preschool co-ops. It was an early period of where we were beginning to learn a lot about preschool, and infant stimulation, that kind of thing. Preschool co-ops in this city got started in the mid-'30s, and that was fairly early in, in that field. But by the time my kids were preschool age, there, adult education of public schools picked it up. And there must have been a staff of about twenty or twenty-five of us spread all over, I think, into the south edge of Snohomish and I know as far as, there was a group called Bow Lake, and that's where the airport is. I don't know whether that still makes it King County, but anyway, and then across the lake. So we covered a lot of ground. Eventually, I got hired in that program, when I think by that time, I must have had three kids go through there. In fact, one of the early preschool experiences we had was at Temple de Hirsch, which was kind of in our neighborhood, Fourteenth, Eighteenth and Union. Temple de Hirsch had decided to do a preschool program for, particularly for incoming refugee kids, Jewish refugees who were beginning to come in. They wanted to help accelerate, accelerate kind of an Americanization program. And they opened up a preschool, and they wanted it integrated, so...

AI: Excuse me, they wanted it racially integrated?

EH: (Yes), and they wanted to give the kids an American experience. So Aki Kurose had heard about it, and so she said, "Let's join them." And well, there was a black family, Alf Hollins. He was a Boeing engineer, and I think Stim Bullitt's kids, you know, the Bullitt family kids were there, and three or four other young activist families. We knew a Sussman in the Harrison school district, and they were, we all ended up being good friends, and they hired a good teacher, and that was a good learning experience, initial learning experience for us. And poor Junks was working graveyard, and he would, after a hurried breakfast, he would pick up three or four -- he picked up Larry for one, for one thing. And Ruthann and Hugo all went to that Temple de Hirsch preschool. After that, so Larry didn't go to a preschool, to co-op preschool. Candy did and Peter did. And, and they were having, we had a preschool at the YWCA on Twenty, on Cherry and Twenty-eighth, a preschool co-op. And in that program, you have to have monthly educational business meetings among the parents. And, and the parents participate one day a week, and that's also a good learning experience. We also, on the day that we participate, we pick up three or four other kids, and then on the day that another parent works, she picks up the kids, and that way, we're all learning and co-oping at the same time. That's an old program that's still going on, that started in mid-'30s, and here it is, 1004, 2004, and it's still a strong program.

It's, I think this city's one of major learning experiences for early education. We got kind of a head start. I know that Berkeley was going at the same time, I had a sister with her kids in the preschool. But that made a very good working ground. That kind of experience contributes to good integration. There was another organization here about the same time, even before we had our first one. There was a group called Christian Friends for Racial Equality, started by a returning missionary from the Philippines. Edith Stimetz, at the age of eighty, when she came, she retired and came through Seattle, she found that all her Filipino students that she had in the Philippines were not getting jobs outside of domestic work. And that just angered Edith Stimetz, and she, even at her age, she proposed to do something about it. And before... Ralph and I didn't join that group until maybe '49, but even by then, there were probably a group of fifty that moved from church to church every month and had a good speaker. But even then, the ministers were taking a stand on this and opening their churches. But the congregations also often weren't, and you didn't see a lot of the congregations there. But the fact that we could move from church to church, at least it opens the gate and it forces the churches to be a little participant, participate to some extent. But that, that group, I think in the late '40s, early -- and they went on into early '50s. After my children came, some of these groups I didn't manage to keep up with, but they were, they did some great programs, Sunday afternoon picnics and teas.

One of the things that that group... actually, that group didn't start it, but they were great participants, and lent a hand and really pushed it. We all attended what's called New Year's Callers. There was another missionary from China who, I think his name was Pyle, thought that this was the New Year's visitations from house to house. Even in Japan, it's more males that do this than women, because the women have to stay home and prepare the food and present the food. But here, they decided that this would be a good way to open up a lot more doors, and there were people ready to do this. And so every New Year's, sometimes prominent families, but families with sizeable homes would open up for New Year's, and we would go from house to house and maybe three or four houses at least. This got to be such an impressive occasion that the papers played it up every holiday. And showing pictures of people having tea in integrated group. And in late '40s early '50s, this was a significant practice.

AI: So, it really was a major activity because -- and it was, made an impact because there would be a picture in the major newspapers showing racially integrated groups.

EH: (Yes), and people had to contribute. I mean, people had to help put this on, but we didn't have a car, for instance, and so we were always delighted to have somebody pick us up. And I remember one year it was, I couldn't, I can't believe it now, but I think it was below seven, and it was very precarious to be walking around on hilly Seattle streets. And in those days we wore heels and dressed a bit. And now I would not advise walking on hills with spike heels on in Seattle's icy streets. But those were opening days.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2004 Densho. All Rights Reserved.