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AI: Well, tell me about some of your neighbors in the area where you and Iwao lived. What kinds of reactions did you get from the neighbors?

MH: Well, our landlord (lived) next door. The only reason we got the upstair apartment of a (house) was because we didn't have any children at that time. (...) Her only criteria for renting was just to couples (...). So we lived there for a number of years. Then we bought a house at the edge of town (later). And then, that's when my mother came to live with us. My father had passed away, and we needed another bedroom, and that was when we (...) moved (...). We bought a house (...) on the edge of town. We were there for quite a number of (years), and then the children came, so we moved to Whitcomb Drive, and (it) was clearly out of town. The, Whitcomb Drive was just a dirt road. It was in the middle of a great big field, and our house and one or two others were the only houses around. But it's all developed, and so that's where we moved about in '57. We've been there ever since. And then, oh, I want to tell you about this one... the pink magnolia blossoms are very plentiful in (this area) -- not the white ones. The white ones don't grow because our climate is too (cold). My husband planted (...) just one branch, between our house and our next door (...). Just plucked it down. I wish you could see it now. It's a huge tree that spreads out between the two houses with branch. And every spring I drive by to see. It's in full bloom, and it's just glorious. But to think, just a branch. After all these years it turned out to be a magnificent tree. It was something to look forward to every (spring)... so that's one story.

And life in Madison was very enriching. And in our area were lots of wonderful families moving, and they had children the same age as our two, so it was quite a group. (...) The area in front of us was vacant, so every night the whole neighborhood would gather and have a baseball game or a... all these games. Nine o'clock came sharp, everybody went straight home. So we didn't have to worry about where our kids were. And they all grew up, went to grade school and high school. And at the college age they all went to their respective colleges, but the interesting fact is, they kept in touch with each other. And to this day they all keep in touch, and it's wonderful. And now we're enjoying their offsprings. My son is here with his two kids meeting some of the friends right now. So it's been a wonderful community to (grow) up. And back of our house is the playfield, and so Fourth of July we would have a big communities (picnic), and they have a parade down our street come up and a great big picnic up there, so -- I mean, a community picnic and we got to see, so that was (...)... so that's our life. And then our, Ruth went to Milwaukee (...) to college first. And then you ended up at Wisconsin and finished there. And Joe went to University of Oregon and he was allergic. There was something in the Wisconsin area certain months of the year. A certain kind of pollen irritated him. He was sneezing, and so he got out, and he went to University of Oregon and finished there, didn't he? Yeah. So... well, so he never liked to come back to Madison especially at that season. At the other season it was okay.

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2004 Densho. All Rights Reserved.