<Begin Segment 14>

AI: So then after you finished dental school in 1960, what happened then?

WW: I, as soon as I finished dental school, I wasn't sure where I wanted to practice. And also, I had, was waiting for the navy to call me onto active duty, and when they finally didn't, that's when I started my practice in West Chicago. I was persuaded by a dentist in West Chicago that had an overload of patients, so to speak, and he knew of me through my sister. He was my sister's dentist, and persuaded me to start my practice there, which I did.

AI: So there you were, in your, you were brand-new in business.

WW: Right.

AI: So tell me, what were, what were some of the challenges there as you were starting up your practice?

WW: Some of the challenges were really... the newness of it, and being inexperienced. I think those are the main things, and also, at the time, I was twenty-five, and I looked very young. And some people were perhaps a little bit leery because I looked so young. However, most, most people accepted me, and 'course, there were a lot of people that knew me and I knew them, so that helped, having grown up there.

AI: Well, that's so interesting to me, that rather than having people be, perhaps, hesitant about you because you're Japanese American, they were hesitant about you as a professional because you were very young-looking.

WW: Right, that's the feeling I got, yes. Right.

AI: Well, so then as you're beginning your practice and the early years were starting up, there were also things changing, and, of course, John F. Kennedy was president then in the early years of your practice. Do you recall the day that he was assassinated?

WW: Day he was assassinated, I was at work, and I first heard of it through my wife, who was, happened to be watching television at the time, I believe. And I found out through her. There were, of course, other people around that would have talked about it as well.

AI: What was your reaction when you heard that news?

WW: Well, I was very, very shocked and saddened, like a lot of people, and just couldn't understand why. Well, of course, things happen, but just couldn't understand it.

AI: Well, and then, of course, Johnson came into the presidency, and soon after that, he signed all of that civil rights legislation, the Civil Rights Act in 1964, and Voting Rights Act in 1965. And I know from, my understanding is that that was, really had a big impact on the African American population. But I'm wondering, did you have any sense that that had any relation to you at all? That new legislation?

WW: No, I didn't feel it directly myself. I realized the significance of it, however, I didn't feel it affected me too much, really.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2004 Densho. All Rights Reserved.