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MA: Okay, so you said you graduated in 1937.

SE: Yes.

MA: And what did you do after graduation? Did you go to school?

SE: I went to Seattle Pacific College, and I went there for half a year or something, and my father got sick with typhoid fever and ended in the hospital. And so...

MA: How did he get the typhoid fever?

SE: We assume that it, he, he and another fellow got typhoid fever at the same time, and they, that other fellow, I think, was working in a fish market. He used to go eat at, my father would run in and have, and he loved oyster cocktail. And I think that that's where they got it, from the oyster.

[Interruption]

MA: So your father got typhoid fever from some oysters, you think.

SE: We assume it was from the oysters.

MA: And when he got sick, what happened to your college career?

SE: I dropped out and went to work. And having helped with, at the, my uncle's cafe, restaurant, I was able to get work at the Tokyo Cafe, which was so close to home, and it was very convenient for us.

MA: So you had to drop out, was it for financial reasons?

SE: Uh-huh, uh-huh.

MA: So you were at college for about six months?

SE: I can't remember, it must be about six months.

MA: And what was your experience like, just in that short time you were there?

SE: At the college?

MA: Yeah.

SE: Well, we were sort of... I'd say rebels. [Laughs]

MA: What do you mean?

SE: 'Cause I went to a very sedate Christian college. And, and I made a few friends, Caucasian friends, that we did things together. At school, we had, on Mondays they had, Monday nights they had vesper services, and most of the students were on campus, going, staying at the dormitory. And so we'd go to the vesper service at, I think it was Monday nights, and then I had some friends that lived about two blocks from college, that she used to, she and her brothers were going to school from Wenatchee, and they had apartments upstairs at the home of Dr. Frank Warren. And so they'd invite me over, and I'd have dinner with them, and then we'd go to the vesper service together. So I had a very happy time, I think.

MA: What were you studying in college?

SE: Well, I was supposed to do Christian education. Dad wanted me to go into Christian education and see if I could do church work or something, I guess. But me and a lot of the girlfriends, we did things together, and went to their homes. And these, I think they were boy and girl, twins, from Wenatchee, that lived in this home, they had apartments above Dr. Warren's house, so they had, their folks were sending them to school there. So they had, I guess the folks did a lot of canning and they canned meats and things. And so when they had, had me over for dinner, why, it was all these home-canned food that we had together. And I had a great time with them. It was interesting because she was going to nursing, the girl was going to nursing school, and when she was doing her... I forgot whether it was training or whether she was already a nurse, but she was at the Swedish Hospital, and she was a nurse for my father.

MA: Oh, when he was in the hospital for typhoid?

SE: Hospital for typhoid fever, yes.

MA: How long did it take him to recover through that illness?

SE: I'm trying to remember. I forgot how long he was in the hospital, but I do remember that one, one night, I had a lot of callers, and people would come to the front door, and they ring the bell, and what happened was some lady went to the hospital to visit my father, and they told him that she couldn't see him because he had typhoid fever. Well, she misunderstood, that he had "died from fever." You know, Isseis' English, "typhoid fever," and she said, "died from fever."

MA: So she was confused.

SE: Uh-huh. And she spread that thing around, and I had a terrible, we had a terrible time at home, because we had people coming to the house to express their condolences, and we'd have to say, "Stop, don't say anything," because I said, "I'm just talking to my mother at the hospital, he's doing, Dad is doing all right," you know. Oh, that lasted for quite a while.

MA: It's interesting how that spread throughout the community pretty fast.

SE: Oh, yes, uh-huh. And I'd be walking in Jackson Street, and people would bow and say, "We're so sorry." It was, it was quite a time, but we were fortunate to say, "No, he's okay." [Laughs]

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.