<Begin Segment 21>

MA: How did you meet your husband, Eddie?

SE: How did I meet him? A gentleman that was, was a janitor at the hotel where Dad, where our folks were staying, told him he'll bring Ed to meet a couple of girls, and brought him over to Dad's place where Miyo and I were. And he said, he said all we did was giggle, giggle. [Laughs] He said it was embarrassing for him, he said, "I won't see that girl again." [Laughs]

MA: So how did you connect again?

SE: I can't remember now, but I don't know, we started going roller skating and things. And his friends, and I knew his friends, too. And then the other girls that did housework, we went together, and then we used to go bowling, and my brother and I and my sister, we would go bowling a lot. So then Ed would come down and join us, bowling.

MA: And what year did you get married?

SE: '44.

MA: 1944, so the war was still going on.

SE: Oh, yeah, uh-huh.

MA: Did, around that time, during the war years, was housework a common job for, for the Nisei girls to do?

SE: Oh, yes, because we didn't know where, main thing was we needed a safe place to stay. And then with the housework, why, you knew that you had a home that you could go to.

MA: So you would actually live in the, in their home?

SE: Uh-huh. And then you'd get Thursdays, Sundays and Thursdays, afternoon off.

MA: And these were mostly for Caucasian families?

SE: Uh-huh, Caucasians.

MA: Was it a pretty well-paying job at that time, did you get...

SE: Oh, no. But then it was, oh, very, something like nine dollars a week, but you'd earn room and board, and the main thing you wanted was room and board. And it varied from there on.

MA: And you said you did housework up until you met your husband, right? And then you got married.

SE: And then I continued to do housework. Through the same agency I was able to get day work, day work, and so we'd go out and I'd, for fifty cents an hour or something, we'd work for eight hours.

MA: And what, what was your husband's job at that time when you were, when you got married?

SE: He was farming with, with Sam.

MA: Sam Ogo?

SE: Uh-huh.

MA: Did he continue that for a long time?

SE: Oh, yes, uh-huh. And then eventually, well, they farmed right next to each other, so Ed took over part of his land, the same land that they were leasing and farmed. And then Ed's mother and father helped at the farm, and they were helping Sam Ogo, too.

MA: Did you also work on the farm?

SE: No, never worked out in the garden. So I did housework, day work.

MA: And so you got married in '44, and when did you decide you were gonna live in Spokane permanently? I mean, did you ever consider moving back to Seattle or going to Chicago?

SE: Oh, no, uh-uh. No, I never thought of making any moves. Well, you know, the children came. [Laughs] And then we got active in the community.

MA: Oh, how did, how did you become active? What sorts of things did you do?

SE: Well, I worked with the ladies in this area. I don't know when they had census, but we used to do census work and things like that. And then, then the women in this community have what they call a "Happy Hour Club" where the mother, mothers, they couldn't leave home with the kids, and so at first they used to get together, was it once, once a month, play cards, and fix lunch for each other. And so they had it at different homes. So it got to a point where instead of doing lunches, we'd go and play at, at restaurants, play cards there. Like at the Holiday Inn, we had a room that we went every month, and they reserved a place.

MA: These were all Nisei women with, with children?

SE: Yeah, women with children. Well, at first, that's why they did it at the homes. But when all the kids were in school, then they could go to a restaurant.

MA: Is that something that still happens, these get-togethers?

SE: I'm still, I still belong to the, well, there's only, I think there's only three of us left now, but we're still doing... in fact, there was this lady, that neighbor lady that had a greenhouse where the Hampton Inn is now, there was a greenhouse. And this lady for years used to come in and used to invite us, me to go to the, with the women. But I was working and I couldn't go. And so, but the bad part was after she died, I took her place. So the ladies still meet and play cards once a month. And we go to Holiday Inn up there, at the, I think it's called... what do they call it? Something grill. Not "gambler's" but... anyway, a little grill that's at the Holiday Inn up here, and we go up there once a month, we play cards and have lunch with the ladies.

MA: Sounds fun.

<End Segment 21> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.