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TI: Okay, so we're gonna get started, Roy. And today is Saturday, July 5, 2008, and we're in Denver. And in the room we have, on camera, Dana Hoshide, and interviewing is Tom Ikeda. And so why don't we start, Roy, by just asking, so when and where were you born?

RE: Well, I was born in Clovis, New Mexico, on January 11, 1934. And in a family of ten, ten siblings.

TI: So why don't we start with your name. What was the name given to you at birth?

RE: Well, I was delivered by a veterinarian. A veterinarian was -- we lived outside of the town because the town was segregated, so non-whites could not live in town. So we lived across the railroad tracks, so to speak. We grew up in the Santa Fe railroad property, in an enclave where there were other Japanese families, there were seven other families.

TI: And before we go there, let's just... can you give me, like, the full name?

RE: Oh, yeah. The, my brother, my mother said, "I'm gonna have a baby, so you better go jump on your bike and go get the doctor." So he was passing by the livestock, livestock yard, he saw this Dr. Miller. Dr. Miller was tending to some cows there in the livestock shipping yard, and he said, "My mom's having a baby. Can you come over?" And he said, "Okay, as soon as I'm done here." Which he did, and he delivered me, and my mother said, "I've run out of names. What can I call him?" He said, "Name him Roy after me." So I was named after Dr. Roy Miller.

TI: Oh, that's a funny story. That's good. So did the veterinarian usually deliver babies?

RE: You know, in a small town, a cattle town, railroad town, veterinarians had to do double duty, so they delivered their share of babies.

TI: Oh, that's a funny story, though. It's a nice icebreaker to tell people you were delivered by a veterinarian. [Laughs]

RE: Veterinarian, sure. [Laughs]

<End Segment 1> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.