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TI: And earlier you had talked about how your father was not healthy, and then he died in Japan. After that happened, you had mentioned earlier, your mother's brother came to help? Can you just tell me about that?

MO: Uh-huh. He was a younger brother, but he felt sorry for her. Something happened... he just got married from Japan, to a woman that was the only daughter in a big family. Not a big family but.... and then they came to Hawaii. And I know husband and wife, when she's not... can't remember the words that I should use. Because she was the only daughter, she was very demanding. So my uncle felt sorry for my mother, too. They came to, they came to help my mother after my father died, to teach, to help with the school. But what happened to...

TI: Okay, so let me make sure I understand this. So after your father died, your mother's younger brother, your uncle, and your uncle's wife, came from Japan to Hawaii to help run the school.

MO: That's right.

TI: And do you know how long they stayed in Hawaii?

MO: When they came to Hawaii, they had one daughter, and then, in fact, she just passed away last, in December of this year, last year. But the next were twins, two twin boys were born. This is when my uncle and his wife came to Hawaii.

TI: And what was your uncle's name?

MO: Tadanobu Wakimoto.

TI: Good. And so he had a daughter and then twins, and then they returned to Japan after that?

MO: Later on they had to. Because my aunt, as I said, she was the only daughter, but she just didn't get along. In fact, because she was the only daughter, she was more of that, not selfish, but very demanding.

TI: And so it was hard for her to raise?

MO: Yes. And then my husband, my father -- my uncle in between, trying to cover up for both sides, you know. So they had a rough life. But they ended up going back. But one thing I remember, when the twin boys were born, that was when President Roosevelt came to Hawaii and they had a big march. So they named them Franklin and Theodore.

TI: Oh, your, I mean the...

MO: Two boys.

TI: The twins? Franklin and...

MO: And Theodore.

TI: Theodore.

MO: That was something I remembered.

TI: That's good.

MO: His boys are still living, I guess, someplace on the mainland.

TI: So Franklin and Theodore, I remember that.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright ©2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.