<Begin Segment 26>

TI: So now I want to kind of shift gears and go more towards your family life. When were you married?

EK: Oh, it was February the 12th, 1950.

TI: And where was this?

EK: At the, one of the chapels at the University of Chicago.

TI: Okay, so you were in Chicago, so how did you meet your wife?

EK: Well, I attended a JACL meeting, and then I met her, and then I found out later on that she lived only about four blocks away from us. So then we started dating and so forth.

TI: And so tell me a little bit about her. Where, what was her name and where was she from?

EK: Oh, her name was Grace Watanabe. She had two sisters, one was in Webster, Texas, and the other one was in Chicago. And she was a, her mother was a widow, because their father was a minister who died alone in Los Angeles while the rest of the family was evacuated.

TI: So why was her father still in Los Angeles when the rest of the family left?

EK: They, he was critically ill, and the army would not permit his mother, his wife or the children to stay. They said, "Move." It was only after he had died that they permitted the widow and the three children to go there temporarily.

TI: Okay, so you met Grace, so she's from Los Angeles. And did she go, so which camps or camp did she go to?

EK: I forgot the name. [Laughs]

TI: Okay, but she went to a camp, and then from there, she resettled in Chicago.

EK: Yeah. Settled there just for a short period. Because before, before he died, her father had written to some friends in Abilene, Texas, Hardin-Simmons University, because he had attended there during his ministerial studies and said that, "Please take care of my daughters," and so forth. So all, two of them were permitted to enroll at Hardin-Simmons University.

TI: And so that's where Grace went also?

EK: That's where she got her degree.

TI: Okay. And so in Chicago at a JACL meeting, the two of you met, and then from there you started dating. And then you were then married on February 12, 1950.

EK: Yes.

TI: And then, and then she went with you to Yonkers.

EK: That's right.

TI: And during this time, was your mother still with you? Where was your mother during this time?

EK: She was with me, but then after I said I was gonna get married, she took, my brother arranged for her to live with him. So then she changed her domicile and then started living with my brother.

TI: And where was your brother living?

EK: I think it was on the East Coast in Philadelphia or somewhere like that.

TI: Okay. So your mother went to go live with Kazuo on the East Coast, and you went to Yonkers. And then you started having children. Tell me about your children in terms of, maybe, yeah, your oldest to your youngest.

EK: Oldest was Kathy, Kathryn, and then the second one was Eugenie, E-U-G-E-N-I-E, and the third on was Alan who was born in Waukegan.

TI: Okay, and Kathy and Genie were born in Yonkers?

EK: Yes.

TI: Okay, good. And you have three children. Any grandchildren?

EK: Yeah, uh-huh. Kathy has two sons and a daughter, Eugenie has one son.

<End Segment 26> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.