<Begin Segment 28>

[Ed. note: This transcript has been edited by the narrator]

TI: So let's talk about going back to Seattle. So you recovered, you finished your training, so you now had a RN degree.

SA: Yes, I came back with a skill.

TI: And so you returned to Seattle, so about what year is this now?

SA: '47.

TI: Okay, 1947, and you are about how old now?

SA: I'm twenty-one, twenty going on twenty-one.

TI: Okay, twenty, twenty-one. So let's talk about, you said earlier that it was almost like the first day you looked for work, you were able to get a job.

SA: Yes, you know, I came in, (...) Frank, (my roommate's brother, drove us) down to Fresno. They lived in Fowler, right outside of Fresno. I say Fresno 'cause that's the biggest town near (their home). He had a great farm, they did very well. And that was evidently (because he owned it and had a friend run it.) We stopped in Salt Lake City where (they) had a cousin. (...) Utah was really good to us (Japanese) even from the time we were in camp. (Many) went to Clearfield, (Utah), for sugar beets or everything like that, cannery jobs and freezing, whatever, at the time. We didn't have frozen (vegetables), that developed (later). We had dehydration plants, but Ogden, Utah, and Salt Lake City, they had a great number there of Japanese staying, Japanese Americans. Chicago was the other one. They both had them in the thousands. The Mormons were good to them. I went to a ward meeting with the people I was staying with, the Oda family, and (it was the) first time I saw (people) saluting the State of Utah (flag), and I thought, "Wow, they're pretty strong down (here, the Mormons.")

TI: Okay, so this is on your way back to Seattle, so you stopped...

SA: Yes, (...) I ended up in Fowler, (California), and I rested there for a few days, and then I took the coach (train north). I was in coach, but they told me I could sit in first class 'cause it was empty. By the time (...) I got to Portland, (...) they (had) moved me back into the coach, (so I got to Seattle). That was in the morning, and my folks met me, but I don't know if they had gotten somebody (to help me). Anyway, we got up to this apartment -- they had moved (in), as I said, out of (Mr.) Prato's to this place. But there was a junkyard or something nearby, and there was a lot of noise in the morning with all the trucks unloading. (...) The closest hospital was the United States Public Health Hospital, which was (the) Marine Hospital. It's right there on (Beacon) Hill where Amazon.com is. We were down on Fir Street, (...) between Twelfth and Fourteenth (Avenue). So I had to get to Jackson (Street, so) I had to walk (...) to catch a bus to go around to Beacon Hill (...). It was kind of (unhandy) when I had to take emergency (calls), I stayed at the hospital 'cause there was no way (to get to the hospital quickly).

TI: And so you did this, and this is where you mentioned earlier, you worked with Dr. McGowan.

SA: Yes, that's where I met Dr. McGowan, and I was amazed that they assigned me to surgery. I thought I would take a floor and kind of break into the place. But here, I go at noon and the next thing I know, (I've a job) in surgery. And I thought, "This is strange." That was all right, but I was amazed because Dr. McGowan told me to scrub in with him, and I thought, ("They don't know what kind of a nurse I am, and here I'm scrubbing for the chief surgeon!")

TI: So in retrospect, looking back, after you talked about your training, do you think it was the training you got at the Mayo Clinic that...

SA: I think it was because he knew I was a Japanese American, and I think he had his eye on me from the time I entered that place. I don't know, I never got to talk to him about it 'cause he never talked about (the evacuation). But he'd make jokes, you know, because he'd make fun of the fact that I was quite devout. And he'd say, "You know, if you told Sharon here that the moon is green (and) it says so in the Bible, she's crazy enough to believe it." I mean, he'd always say things like that. And when we're (closing, like him) sewing up (the) stomach, it's a (series of single sutures). You had these small (curved) needles, (...) and what we (do is we string needles) called "interrupted sutures." It means you take one stitch and you tie. Continuous (stitching) is when you go (stitch) all the way and it's one tie. Well, we have to do interrupted (stitching) on the stomach (cases), kind of a delicate thing, and he'd put his hand out and I'm supposed to keep whipping in these things, but (to keep ahead when) he's so fast and I'm (so) slow, he said, "She's like those (brides) when Christ comes in," the Bible, and you have these (lamps) of oils and some (brides) have forgotten to fill it. So when Christ comes (as) the bridegroom, (...) they're not ready (with the lamp) so they don't go to heaven (...). So he says, "There she is, she's one of those left behind. Hurry up." [Laughs] And I thought, "Good night," (...). But he'd always say things like that and I thought, (wow), but he never told me (about the internment) camp and (that) he was there at the assembly center. (I wish now, I had known that.)

TI: But then tell me the story about your father now. Your father was at Providence and then...

SA: Yes, (...) I took him in because he had varicosities and (they) wanted to strip his veins. And they gave him a general anesthetic, and for some reason, I think it's because he's (small), five-foot-two, and (he was only 112 pounds) in his report at the FBI files. So when you give him a normal dose, it really knocks him under, (too strong a dose). Even my mother, when she was in Keiro, she got an overdose and she didn't wake up ('til) the second day. And I was concerned about that. But my father didn't wake up, and so they (...) called me, and I took the phone call in surgery. So then I said, "I've got to go," and he said, well, he's going, too, he didn't have a case, so he said he was going to take me and go. And I said, "You don't have to go," but he went with me. And I thought, "Wow." I should have thought then, "Why is he doing this (for me)? I'm just a worker." It wasn't until years later, and by then he had (retired and) left, I guess he had a stroke or something, he was (admitted to) a hospital back on the East Coast. And I thought, "I wish I had gone to thank him." I thought, "It's too late, why didn't he tell me?" He never did. Isn't that strange?

TI: Yeah, that's a good story.

SA: You'd think he'd say something.

<End Segment 28> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.