Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Peggie Nishimura Bain Interview
Narrator: Peggie Nishimura Bain
Interviewer: Alice Ito
Location: Seattle, Washington
Date: September 15-17, 2004
Densho ID: denshovh-bpeggie-01-0016

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AI: Well, so then, did you stay there that winter at the end of 1927, or did you, is that when you maybe went back in town and stayed at the Fujin Home for a while?

PB: I came back to town -- I don't remember why I came back to town. It was probably because my husband was going to the cannery then, and I was pregnant with my second child, so I stayed at the Fujin Home. But I don't know, my husband had the gall to even say that Pat was his, wasn't his daughter. He even said that. And he, actually, he wouldn't even go to Alaska until he knew I was pregnant, and yet, he claimed that it wasn't his child and all that. He was terrible that way. And he never, never cared for the children at all; he wasn't a family-oriented man. And I don't know why, because he comes from a big family, there's about eleven or twelve in his family. And I was friendly with all the rest of the family, but he just... he just was no good.

AI: Well, the Fujin Home was a home for women that was run by the Baptist Church, the Japanese Baptist Church.

PB: Uh-huh.

AI: So, so that was the time then, that you were with a number of other women there at the home, and could you tell a little bit about the ladies who worked there, Ms. Rumsey and Ms. McCollough?

PB: Oh yes, it was Ms. Rumsey, Ms. McCollough and Ms. Wagner. Ms. Wagner was teaching me piano a little bit; I took a few piano lessons from her. Ms. McCollough was teaching all the Japanese girls how to cook; she was a marvelous cook. Ms. Rumsey was, I guess she was the oldest of the group, and she was getting very slow, and she'd drive the car and everybody used to laugh that to ride with her, you could make it there if you walked faster than she'd get you there by car. But they were all very lovely people. Ms. Herd, she married Mr. Katayama, and I remember for lunch, always had tomato soup. [Laughs] Tomato soup and crackers; every time I see tomato soup, I always think of Mrs. Tashiro, because she always made tomato soup and crackers for lunch. I don't know how we survived on so little, but I guess we did. And there was a nurse there, Mrs. Manabe, and her daughter was there, and Clarence Arai's sister -- because the mother, Mrs. Arai, at the time, took care of the children there. She was a very sweet lady.

AI: Clarence Arai's mother.

PB: Uh-huh. And Sumi Arai at that time was a child, and she was staying there. And there was one little Japanese boy there, he was very mentally retarded, but Mrs. Arai took care of him. I guess he lived for quite a while.

AI: Well, and, of course, the minister at that time was Reverend Emery Andrews.

PB: Yes. He had the "Blue Box," what we called the "Blue Box," and I joined the WWG group, that I had the picture of.

AI: The World Wide Guild?

PB: Uh-huh. And some of the girls in there, like Dr. Uyeno is in that picture. She became quite well-known, and, well, Reverend Andrews has been friends with us for many, many years. In fact, he married my two sisters to their, one of their husbands. My one sister is still married to the... I think, yeah, that was Herod. She's still married to him.

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