<Begin Segment 27>

TI: So you got out of the service.

RE: Went back to Sacramento.

TI: Went back to Sacramento.

RE: Didn't last more than a month when I came back home.

TI: To Cleveland?

RE: Enrolled at Ohio State. I was an old, old freshman.

TI: So on the GI Bill you went to...

RE: Ohio State.

TI: Ohio State. And what subject did you...

RE: I was in, just arts and science, pre-med type of courses.

TI: And when you were back in Cleveland, how, how were your parents with you at that point?

RE: Well, you know, I had changed, my attitude had changed, so it was acceptable.

TI: So they, you were more mature.

RE: I'd come to my senses.

TI: So the relationship was much better, I take it, that actually...

RE: Sure. But you know, many years passed. When my mother and father were on their last leg, my mother realized that she needed somebody to look after the gravesite in New Mexico where my oldest brother and sister were buried. So she just asked me if I would look after the gravesite. I said, "Why not anybody else?" the older sister. She said, "I trust you. You have more sensitivity, you care a lot more," she said, "I trust you to do this." I'm accepted. Be there, my wife and I have been there three times. And we'll be going this fall, so we'll see, we're gonna (see) Hershey Miyamoto in Gallup, and then we're gonna go down to the eastern part of New Mexico to take care of the gravesite.

TI: So at what point did you, sort of, get back, or start dating your wife?

RE: Oh, she had, we graduated about the same time.

TI: Graduated from high school?

RE: College -- high school. High school, yes. And, of course, I was fooling around with some other girls, but the fact is that she had, when I went to Ohio State, I was now a freshman and she was graduating that year. [Laughs] She had completed four years and so... I was interested in going back to, getting back with her. She wanted nothing to do with me 'cause I had no idea what I wanted to do. You know, her mother said, "He's worthless. He's not going to do anything to amount to anything." So I had to prove that I could.

TI: And so you went through Ohio State, and what did you graduate in? What topic, what, what was your major?

RE: Oh, I graduated in bachelor's in biology.

TI: And then what did you do after you finished?

RE: Then I, I looked at a professional school, I really, you know, I applied for med. school, I got accepted, and I just said... that summer I worked, I think, part of June and July I worked at the university hospital. They gave me the wrong job of cleaning up after surgery, and I, the sight of blood on sheets just turned me off. Then I worked a little bit in the university autopsy. The stench of lungs that were filled with tobacco and stuff, that was enough to make me sick. And I went over and said, "I want to quit. I'm not going to med. school." Med. school was starting in August, late August. So I applied into College of Optometry there, because I said, "This is better." And they accepted me because my point hours, grade was quite high. So there was no problem.

TI: And so you... I'm sorry, was this at Ohio State again?

RE: Uh-huh.

TI: Okay, Ohio State.

RE: It was the cheapest place. All the other college and universities were out of sight. Financially there was no way to cut it. People always say, "Why did you go to Ohio State?" It was the cheapest school to go to.

TI: So then you graduated from optometry school.

RE: Uh-huh.

TI: And then you started practice?

RE: Uh-huh, in Oberlin, Ohio. Because we wanted to be close to our parents. I felt a sense of duty to look after my parents and her parents eventually. Because they both liked us; they both were comfortable with us, rather than my older brother and with her, her parents, they liked me over the other Tanaka gang. So we spent a lot of time with them, taking them out to dinner and doing things that we did.

<End Segment 27> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.