<Begin Segment 18>

GH: Now, my mother influenced me on a lot of the personal taste regarding farming. And I could see, with her skill in writing -- some of she, she had published, some of the stuff that she had written to Japan were published in, by her relatives. They showed the letters, and they said, well, some newspapers published as a description of situation...

BF: Of life in America?

GH: Yeah, yeah.

BF: Oh, interesting.

GH: That sort of thing. She had a flair for that. And, and when the neighbor woman read it, Mrs. Katsuno read it, she said, "Did you write this one?" 'Cause it said, A Farmer's Wife. It was written anonymously. I mean, it didn't give the name. And she acted innocent. And so she never said it, but she suspected. "This sounds just like you." And so she had a flair for that sort of thing. And, I feel that she gave each of us, a kind of a life philosophy or perspective that went beyond high school. So we always had a picture. The picture was impossible, like Ivy League. She picked it up someplace. "That's the cream of the crop," or something. "So you're going to Yale or Harvard," or something, without knowing what's involved. She couldn't, even if I got an invitation she couldn't, you know...

BF: Afford to...

GH: There's no, we barely went to University of Washington. [Laughs] With working my way, with some help from the parents and so on, with a job, taking less than a full course. My B.A. was my hardest degree. It took nine years, well, counting three years of war. Well, even taking that off, it's six years. So it was work and go, work and go, or working as I went, both aspects. I went half year and -- Washington was on a quarter system -- so I'd go six months, two quarters, and work two quarters. And, finally I'm, I realize I'm missing something significant by not going to school in the spring. So I changed after two years, going the full three quarters, taking three quarter load or something, and working, taking a little job that would keep me in school. And then worked as a truck driver during the summer.

BF: Now, besides stressing education, did your mother also want, did she seem to try and expose you to a lot of different experiences culturally, or...?

GH: No, not, she didn't have the contacts to do that for us. But in terms of goals and ideas and, including that in the picture, she did her part.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright © 1999 Densho. All Rights Reserved.