<Begin Segment 24>

MA: And can you talk a little bit about the quilt project that you worked on?

NM: Well, this Japanese, what is it, the quilt thing. It was all volunteer. But they wanted the woman's life in Colorado. And so, Carol, my oldest daughter decided, well, she volunteered me actually. And then we decided to make this quilt with my sister and myself. And we really worked hard on it. And my husband designed the whole thing, and we made it up. And I guess it was displayed at an art museum here in Denver and this reporter saw it and so she called. And we did our interview, it came out in the paper. [Laughs]

MA: And the part that you did was, it was like a piece of a larger quilt?

NM: No, it was a hanging quilt. Everybody did a block, and there was six on each block. So it was actually, let's see, twelve by twelve maybe.

MA: And your, 'cause I saw the article earlier. And your portion of it shows you and your sister, sort of reuniting in a way, but also on your separate, it shows her on Mt. Fuji and you next to the mountains in Colorado. So, I thought that was really nice.

NM: Yeah, and then we did send a picture. My brother did, I didn't. And I don't know what she thought of it, though.

MA: So, I just wanted to know if you had any thoughts you wanted to share, or reflections maybe that you wanted to say in closing?

NM: About my life?

MA: Yeah, about anything.

NM: About anything? Let's see. I did. Sometime my mind goes blank.

MA: That's okay. Or about your life, or any, any sort of thoughts about the Japanese American community in Denver.

NM: Well, we didn't do much with the Japanese American community. I think Carol does more than what I did. I always had Caucasian friends after we got married. And my neighbor came from Michigan, Upper Peninsula. And they were going to move to, out west, or towards the west anyway, and he came across Denver and he decided to settle here. And then so, that house next to us was for rent, so he decided well, it was near the Colorado Women's College, so he decided well, he'll rent that place. They eventually bought it. But he calls his wife and says, "Joan, I found a house. But there's some, I think Japanese family living next door. I don't know what you think of it." Because back in Escanaba they never had it. They don't have Japanese. And Joan was telling Tom, "Well, I don't know." But eventually they moved here. And we became best friends. And I would go back to Escanaba and visit her. 'Cause she had to move back because her husband was killed in a plane crash. So she eventually moved back, and that was my lonely time too, because every night we used to have coffee together. And on weekend, we did everything together.

MA: So you created a strong friendship.

NM: Oh, yes. And then when I went back to Escanaba for the first time, she had the whole, it's a small community, she had all her friends lined up at the airport to greet me. [Laughs] I think it was because they'd never seen a Japanese before. [Laughs] But they were are so well, they treated me well, they invited me for luncheon. Each one of her friends. And really had a good time. But we travel, my husband and I travel a lot from the West Coast to the East Coast. And Canada, Alaska. And every winter, up until the last two winters we'd go south for about three months. Where's it's nice and we're warm, and it's so tropical weather there.

MA: Yeah, that's great, you're able to travel.

NM: But then since then, we sold our RV. So we haven't been traveling a lot. Taking care of my, of our two great-grandkids.

MA: I bet that's a handful.

NM: It is. It really is. But I enjoy them.

MA: Well, great. I guess that's it. So thank you very much for coming out here to do an interview and sharing all of your stories with us.

NM: I hope it was a good story.

MA: Yes, it was great. So thank you.

NM: You're welcome.

<End Segment 24> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.