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MA: So what types of things did you do in this hospital during your residency? Was that when you decided to specialize?

KB: Well, actually, we had just taken care of patients, and the decision for the treatment was made by a panel of doctors, and we would bring up the cases and we would have discussions about what should be done with the patient and go on from there. The interesting thing about my experience in Detroit is that's where I met my husband.

MA: Well, how did you two meet?

KB: Well, that was kind of an interesting story. Actually, we had staff from different parts of the world, and this couple from Turkey came to work at the hospital, and they somehow got publicity in the, in the Detroit paper. I think they had a front-page picture of this couple from Turkey coming to study at the Herman Kiefer hospital and so forth and so on. And my husband saw this news story, and he thought -- he's also from Turkey -- he thought, "Well, it might be interesting to meet this couple." So he came to the hospital, and at that time, we were all, most of us were living in the hospital quarters. So we had our meals in the common dining room, and that's where I met him, because he visited this couple, and they brought him down to the dining room and we had a meal together. And he visited often, and gradually became very friendly. We had, it was an interesting group; there was a Chinese doctor, we had a couple from India, then we had this couple from Turkey in addition to some American doctors.

MA: Can you talk a little bit about your husband's background and how he ended up coming to the U.S.?

KB: Well, I think he, he graduated from Robert College in Istanbul, which was run by Americans. And I think he wanted to learn a little bit more in the United States. I think a lot of the Robert College graduates did come to the United States to continue their education. What happened, he enrolled at Indiana University, and then shortly after that, he was drafted into the American army. So...

MA: Was this during, so this was wartime years?

KB: Wartime, uh-huh. So I think he served maybe a year or two, but he was shipped to Japan, so he was assigned to... I say it was MacArthur's headquarters, but it was some other general's headquarters and he had kind of a nice office job. [Laughs] And then he was discharged in one year, so he (obtained) his American citizenship, and that way he actually no longer became interested in returning to Turkey. I think he probably wanted to have some schooling in this country and perhaps go back (later).

MA: Was there a large Turkish community in Detroit? Is that why he went to Detroit?

KB: I don't think, I don't think there was a large Turkish community. There were Armenians, I think he stayed with an Armenian woman who was renting out a room for a while. I'm not sure that it was a large Armenian population, but I don't think there were very many Turks.

MA: And when did you, what year did you get married?

KB: In 1952.

MA: I'm curious about your family's reaction to you marrying someone from Turkey, and how that was accepted in your family and maybe in the Japanese American community in general at that time.

KB: My family really accepted him. When, the first time we went to see my family, my father had kind of looked at Turkish history and he started talking to my husband about Ataturk and how the democracy was established in Turkey and things like that, and kind of surprised all of us that he had even thought about these things. But yeah, there was no problem accepting him. Actually, my family, we had six children and I was the last one to get married. I was the oldest and I was the last one to get married. And my family, I think, was very happy that I found a husband, I don't know. [Laughs]

MA: So how old were you when you got married?

KB: I was twenty-nine. I think my mother was getting a little worried.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.