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TI: So after this, what did you do? After you finished the MIS, what was...

TK: Oh, I got discharged at Camp Atterbury in Indiana, because that's close to South Bend, Indiana.

TI: And why would you get discharged...

TK: You were discharged to the closest place near to your family. So my family was at Notre Dame, Indiana, so I got, Camp Atterbury was my discharge point. Otherwise I would have come back to Fort Lewis, I guess.

TI: So describe how your family ended up at Notre Dame.

TK: Well, Father Tibesar, in relocation, he was going around various cities looking for job opportunities for us. And St. Mary's was one of the places. St. Mary's is associated with Notre Dame, Holy Cross order. So that's how we got close to Notre Dame.

TI: So Father Tibesar found, I guess, your father and mother jobs?

TK: Jobs, uh-huh. My mother worked in the kitchen and Dad worked in the farm.

TI: And how about your siblings? Did they all go also?

TK: Well, at that time, Mary Jane was going to college and so was my brother Francis. So Francis went to Notre Dame and Mary Jane went to St. Mary's College.

TI: And your other siblings? The older siblings?

TK: Oh, they were relocated to Bloomington, Minnesota, and Portland, Oregon.

TI: And so when you go to South Bend, what was that like, seeing the family?

TK: Oh, it was great. [Laughs] I got to go see Notre Dame football.

TI: And was your family pretty happy being in South Bend?

TK: Well, they were treated very well. I don't know if they were happy, but...

TI: So how long did you stay in South Bend?

TK: I just stayed about three months, because I had to come back to work in Seattle within three months to get my old job back.

TI: And this is back at Seattle City Light?

TK: Well, Seattle civil service.

TI: And so when you got back, what job did you...

TK: Well, I applied for whatever job was open. And I could distinctly recall, they asked for a salary. I asked for $150 a month. Well, how was I to know that the salaries had gone up to five hundred, seven hundred a month? And the girl there, "Hey, you're crazy. Put something else down." I remember that.

TI: And so wages had just increased so much while you were gone?

TK: Well, how was I to know that in the service? We didn't know what's going on in the outside world. But civil service, you take what you get, so whatever job.

TI: And so what job were you...

TK: Well, this job at Seattle City Light was open. I took that. Accounting department.

TI: And how long did you stay?

TK: Well, I stayed there 'til... let's see. This was just before the war, I guess it was, wasn't it? Timetable? I stayed there 'til I got, you might say, fired.

TI: Okay, so we got that one, but after the war when you came back to Seattle...

TK: Oh, after the war. After the war I went to the Veterans Administration. Okay, I got that mixed up then.

TI: Yeah, so okay, so you came back to Seattle and you worked in the Veterans...

TK: Veterans Administration.

<End Segment 23> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.