<Begin Segment 14>

TI: I haven't asked too much about your mother. Tell me about your mother. What was she like?

FK: She was low-key. She had to be, because she, well, my dad was overpowering, I'm sure. But she was brave enough to tolerate the whole mob of us. She was, she did all the, supervised all the cooking, 'cause luckily, she had help at home to take care of the laundry and the cleaning. And those days, she had to have somebody to help. Because in the meanwhile, at home, we had these doctors staying with us. They would get room and board plus whatever the wages my parents would give them. So the housekeeper we had had to do all that domestic stuff, and my mother would supervise it all. And meanwhile, look after us, and she had her hands full.

TI: And so how large a household? With all these people, how many rooms and how large was the place?

FK: I'll have to take you there, Gardena Boulevard. Well, the front room, probably in my imagination, it's huge. But the living room, there was an area we called a dining room, and behind the dining room was what was called a library. Because three walls were covered with bookshelves. And somewhere along those three walls were three twin beds, three or four twin beds, plus a desk. And at the desk, my mother used to keep track of the finances, and I could hear her using a soroban to come up with the bank statements, then after she put it together, we'd walk to the bank and she'd deposit the money. I could still hear the clicking. And so she did more than her share of work. Oh, and then there was a downstairs shower and bathroom for the men.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.