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TI: So, let's go, in terms of siblings, so I know a little bit about your father and mother. Brothers and sisters?

LH: Oh, there were six of us, and the oldest just died, as I mentioned, Lillian Ishii, living in Lacey or Olympia, because her husband was president of, the first lay president of Saint Martin's College.

TI: So, Lillian was your oldest sister.

LH: Oldest, and now I have, the second is also a sister, second oldest named Stella, married a Hawaiian Nisei named Kiyo Hashimoto, and lives in Seattle.

TI: Sure, I know Kiyo.

LH: Oh, do you?

TI: Yeah, I know his son really well.

LH: And actually, Lillian's husband, John Ishii was, people found him interesting because he was adopted by the Dunn family, who owned a large seed company in Seattle. And his father had been partners with Dunn, but the father had died early in life, and John was adopted by the Dunn family. And the story goes, many Nisei were envious of John Ishii living up in Magnolia bluff in a beautiful house, and the rest of us Nikkei, maybe some of us doing fairly well on the outskirts of Seattle, but not in Nihonmachi. And yet he had quite a miserable life, being adopted by this Caucasian family when the majority of Seattle being, you know, white, Caucasian, didn't accept him as, as a member of the community.

TI: And so even though it appeared that he was living more of a life of luxury, actually, you said he wasn't happy in that life.

LH: Oh, far from it, far from it.

TI: Interesting.

LH: Now, after Stella, the oldest brother is Ed, Edwin. Actually, it's... yes, Lillian, Stella, then Edwin, he goes by Ed, and he lives in Bellevue. And then I had a brother just above me named Art, Arthur, and he was also in high school with me in camp, a year ahead of me. And then I had a younger sister named Marie, and Marie married a fellow named Ooka, double-O-K-A. And Marie's gone, Arthur's gone, and Lillian, the oldest, just passed away a couple of months ago.

TI: Okay, so you were the fifth of six.

LH: I was the fifth out of six.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2007 Densho. All Rights Reserved.