<Begin Segment 4>

MA: So you said you grew up on King Street, right, between Twelfth and Rainier?

SE: Uh-huh. Close to Rainier.

MA: Was that a mostly Japanese neighborhood at that time? Or were there other...

SE: Mixture, mixture.

MA: What other sort of ethnicities were there?

SE: Well, right next door was the, was Japanese, and then next to that was Chinese. And I had a lot of Chinese friends.

MA: And which grade school did you attend?

SE: Bailey Gatzert School like all of 'em. [Laughs] And then of course after sixth grade, went to Washington school.

MA: What are some of your memories of, from Bailey Gatzert?

SE: Oh, Bailey Gatzert brings back lot of fond memories because they used to have that May Festival where each classrooms, the teacher somehow prepared some kind of program and then I think the first Friday in May or something we had a big assembly, and we all performed. Oh, we performed in, performed in each classroom, and then the whole school got to watch all the classrooms, and then those, the principal, Ms. Mahon, used to select the ones she thought was good to take part in the main one at the main auditorium where they... because everybody couldn't go to all the classrooms, and so the select programs were given in the main auditorium.

MA: And so at that time, Bailey Gatzert was mostly Japanese?

SE: Yes.

MA: Did all of your siblings to go Bailey Gatzert?

SE: Yes, uh-huh. What do they say? Did they say there were a thousand students, and about six hundred were Japanese. Something like that, I'm not that, more or less that proportion.

MA: And did you attend Japanese language school?

SE: No. I think mainly it was too expensive, but actually, my mother could have taught her, taught us, but she was busy with all the kids. And no, everyone, they went from Bailey Gatzert School to Japanese school, they all passed in front of our house, and I used to sit on the porch and watch them go, wishing I could go, I think, kind of, you know, to be with the rest of 'em.

MA: And your father didn't want you to go to Japanese language school, is that right?

SE: Well, I think maybe because they couldn't afford it.

MA: And then which language did you speak at home?

SE: At home was mostly Japanese.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.