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MA: And tell me about your children.

GK: Well, we have three children, Kathryn is the oldest and she's a lawyer. And she worked at McDonald's Corporation as a corporate attorney for thirty years, and last year she decided to retire. So she did retire then. And then I think she has so much energy and everything that she still would like to find a second job if she could. So she's still looking. And then our second daughter is Eugenie, and she's a registered nurse. And she goes with us to all the medical appointments that we have, and we have many. She goes with us and asks good questions of the doctor. She has one son, and Kathryn, our oldest, has three children, and they're all in college or doing graduate work. And then our youngest is Alan, and he's a retinal surgeon, so he's doing very well. But he said he wanted another challenge, so right now, besides his practice, he's taking a course working toward a master's in public health through Johns Hopkins. So he has a lot of reading and studying to do, but he says it's fascinating, so he's keeping it up. And he's not married, so he's making the time to do (the extra studying).

MA: And Kathryn and Eugenie were born in Yonkers, but Alan, you said was born in Illinois?

GK: In Waukegan? Yes, Waukegan.

MA: When did you make that move from New York?

GK: Let's see, the girls were just two and three years old, and then we moved to Chicago. And then that's when Alan was born. And we lived for a while in a place called Winthrop Harbor, and that's on the borderline between Wisconsin and Illinois. And it was a nice home to raise children, it was a big stucco house, two-story stucco house (with) huge kitchen, living room and dining room and the bedrooms were all upstairs. And so at one point, there was no bathroom on the first floor, so Eugene decided he'd like to maybe make a little bathroom on the first floor. So he borrowed some tools from Abbott Laboratories where he was working, and he made a big hole in the floor there and he made a nice little bathroom for us. But there was no heat, so in the winter it was kind of cold, but during the summer it was fine. One time we had a gerbil that the children wanted as a pet, so the poor thing, we left him out in the porch where there was no heat, and it froze to death. So we felt bad about that.

MA: And your mother was living still in Illinois at that time?

GK: Yes, she was in Chicago at that time. But then... let's see, I'm trying to think. In 1949, the year before I was married, my mother remarried. And she married a man by the name of Mr. Katsuno, Araki Katsuno, K-A-T-S-U-N-O, and he had his own business making artificial flowers and leaves. And at one time he had big accounts like Marshall Field and other big stores like that. So then my mother went to help in that business.

MA: And where was Mr. Katsuno from? Was he from Chicago originally? Or he was Issei?

GK: Yes, he would be Issei. So (yes), I don't know when he came to Chicago, but he was living in Chicago. And he was very active in one of the churches, and so I guess the minister of his church introduced the two of them. And so they were married. Actually, my mother was married longer to him than to my father. And my mother lived to be ninety-two, ninety-two years old.

MA: And that's great, you were able to live closer to her.

GK: Yes.

MA: For your children to be around her when you were growing up.

GK: That's right. So I'm sure my mother was happy when we moved back from New York to Chicago. And when our two children, two daughters were born, she would take the train and come to New York and help us, which was such a big help. Because when you have a new baby, you don't know what you're doing. So she came and helped run the household and did the cooking for us. It was a big help, she did that both times when the girls were born.

MA: And Eugene, what type of work was he doing in New York and then when you moved to Illinois?

GK: Right, he's a pharmacologist, and he was in research, testing drugs and so forth. So he was doing that in New York, and then he got a job at Abbott Laboratories just north of Chicago. He worked there for maybe thirty-one or thirty-two years as a pharmacologist and toxicologist to test for drugs to see if they're safe and things like that.

MA: And did you work again? Did you return to work?

GK: (Yes). When Alan was in high school, then I decided to go back to work. So then I worked for one company as a legal secretary, and then I worked at the Northern Trust downtown, so I commuted from Morton Grove, we lived in Morton Grove at that time. So I commuted on the train to downtown. And it was an interesting job, I was an administrative assistant in the international banking department, so it was very interesting. But the commuting sort of got to me because I'd get home late and I'd have to leave early. So then I decided to switch to another company close by. But now I wished I had stayed with the Northern Trust, that would have been a better company.

MA: Really? What did you end up doing after you left Northern Trust and you got that other job?

GK: Okay, then I worked for a company called G.D. Searle and Company, that was a pharmaceutical company. So I worked in several departments, and then I ended up in the CEO's office as the assistant secretary to him. So that was very interesting, it showed me how corporate America works, and the perks that they get when you're up on that level, corporate officer, you know. So that was very interesting. Then Eugene retired in 1989, so I thought, "Well, I'm going to retire, too. Why should I keep working?" [Laughs] So that's when I retired.

MA: And I'm just curious, when your children were growing up, I mean, did they ask you questions about your background and about camp?

GK: Not too much. They didn't ask too much. But then later, as they got older, then they started asking questions more, the specifics. But during the time that they were growing up, I don't remember their asking things like that. Maybe they were so involved with their own activities. But then as they got older, once they got married and got settled, then they started asking questions. And now, they're the ones who are saying, "Get your story told." They're the ones who are pushing.

MA: Yeah, I was gonna say, because they seem very interested in documenting your family history.

GK: Right, right.

MA: Which I think is great.

GK: So I'm grateful for that.

<End Segment 20> - Copyright ©2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.