<Begin Segment 16>

MA: So do you remember first hearing about the government's decision to remove people into camps? Do you remember hearing about that?

SE: Oh, yes. We, there were rumors, of course, lot of rumors.

MA: What sorts of rumors were out there before it actually happened?

SE: That everybody was going, we were all going to be taken in and put into camps. And so I had, the first weekend in March...

MA: Was this 1942?

SE: Uh-huh. I was a member of the Seattle Christian Youth Council, and every year, in the first weekend in March, we have a conference on one week, one time it would be in Seattle, and another time it would be Wenatchee, and then another year it would be in Spokane. That year it was supposed to be in Spokane, so I told my father that I was going to attend the conference, so I will pack my bag and I'll go to Spokane and see if I could find a housework job. And if I could find one, I'll send for them.

MA: Was this during the "voluntary evacuation" period?

SE: Uh-huh, evacuation, uh-huh.

MA: So what did your father say when you told him this?

SE: Yeah, well, I was coming anyway, so, yeah, so he said, "Go ahead." And so immediately I called, and the people that I was working for, the lady had gone back East to say goodbye to her son who was a doctor that was going to Italy for being drafted as a doctor. So she had to leave, and so I had full responsibility for the home, and she had, they had, their niece was visiting, and so she was a, she's a proofreader, and she was a proofreader for a mystery story writer. So they were living at the house at the time, so we took over and she left to say goodbye to her son.

MA: And what about your siblings? You, most were in Seattle, but you had a couple brothers who were in Alaska?

SE: Alaska, uh-huh.

MA: What ended up happening with them, with the mass removal?

SE: They went to Puyallup, and they went to Minidoka with the rest of them. Let's see. My sister was working for, she was a housemaid for a widow on Seattle's First Hill, and so I knew that they were gonna have to leave. So through the help of an employment agency here in Spokane, I got them both a job in homes here in Spokane. For the second sister, she was an experienced maid, she knew how to give dinner parties and things. So I, I got her a job with a pediatrician, a Dr. Barnett, his home, 'cause they were fancy people. And then my oldest sister, I was able to get her a job in the home of Eric Johnston, and he became the United States, president of the U.S. Film Industry, as well as... what was it? Film Industry... well, anyway, he was a big man, and he turned out to be a big man in Washington, so my sister had no trouble.

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.