<Begin Segment 8>

TI: When you're growing up, now, in this family, what were some of the chores or responsibilities you had as a young girl?

MY: I think I was cheated. [Laughs] Because, see, my sister lived 'til she was fifteen, and she got... I don't know what it is, but it was a very ugly form of TB. And so she was only sick for twelve, ten days. And she died within twelve days of becoming sick. And I never could understand exactly what it was, but it had a, kind of a connotation that it was kind of like TB, the basic disease, had something to do with TB. And she was gone within twelve days, and so I was out in the field with my mother and my second oldest brother, working out in the fields all the time. And suddenly she died, so then I'm in the house and taking care of all of it. I have to cook and wash and take care of the house for what he was, whatever he was working on.

TI: Oh, because prior to that, your older sister would help your mother probably in the house doing all these things.

MY: Uh-huh.

TI: Going back to your sister's death, so she died at fifteen, you were two years younger so you were about thirteen?

MY: Uh-huh.

TI: And you, I'm guessing, were pretty close to her, because you were pretty close in age and there was only two girls. So tell me what, how that affected you at such a young age to have your older sister die.

MY: Well, I don't know. I suppose it's like any kid, you just feel like, "Well, why do I have to do all the work?" you know. And to me, it was like, she stays at home and takes care of the kids and cooks, you know. But I was out in the field with my older brother, and then coming home and then she would insist that I had to help her with the dishes. And I would rebel because I would say, "Well, I worked out there all day with Mike and Mom," I said, "why should I have to help you? You don't come out in the field and help me when, in the afternoon." And so, but then that didn't matter, I had to help with the housework, too.

TI: Do you recall the reaction of your parents when your sister died, how that was for them?

MY: Well, it really hit 'em, because she'd never been sick, never had any serious illness besides maybe a cold or flu or something that ran with the time of the year. And the usual kids' diseases, so that really, it was really hard to take when she passed away. Well, then my brother, brother older than her, had pleurisy. And I can remember him coming home from school and driving to Kent about maybe twice a month to go to the doctor, you know. And apparently that went on for quite a while, then my sister died suddenly, and I guess they never could get the connection. TB was hard to find at the time. So then they found out that he had TB, and people are cruel, you know. You start thinking about it, and it was just about that time that the King County TB Association had got Dad involved and wanted to start this scratch test, TB scratch test and stuff. There were people that were... oh, I don't know what you would... thoughtless or something to say that, "Just because he's got a kid that died of TB, he wants the rest of us to have it, too." Because the King County, King County TB Association came out and examined all the kids and gave 'em the tests and everything. And so, but then, on the other hand, if they'd stop and think about it, if it hadn't been for that, there would have been dozens of people who would have died from TB. Because there was a family that had a daughter and a mother in one family, and oh, half a dozen families that had lost a parent and a child or a couple of kids that died because of TB.

TI: But the scratch test was given to, I guess, one, to see if the rest of the kids had TB?

MY: No, it was open to everybody, you know.

TI: Right. But they were trying, they were, I guess, more interested, or they wanted to check you and the other kids out because your sister and your brother had TB.

MY: Yeah. So we were, we were... not quarantined, but checked by the King County TB Association for two years.

TI: And when you mentioned it was kind of cruel, what was the, kind of the part that was difficult for you when they did this?

MY: Well, just the idea that people would, you know, because my dad was breaking his neck to help the TB Association out to get these tests done, so it would prevent additional heartache on other families. And yet, some of them would say, "Well, just because his kid died of TB, he wants it done so that he's not the only one that had to go through that." (Narr. note: Life has cruel, unthinking folks in it. I've lived it.)

TI: I see.

MY: They say if he would have left them alone, that they wouldn't have discovered the TB. So that in reality says, well, so several people died, so how many more would have died if they hadn't insisted on the community care?

TI: Okay. So there were others who, I guess, questioned your father's motives. That they said the only reason he is interested in stopping TB or checking for TB was because of his family. But actually, he, by doing so, really helped people, all the families.

MY: Yeah. There were several, there were several families that lost a mother and daughter or son or somebody, that had to go to the sanitarium for a year or two years. TB has always been a hard disease to control. 'Cause like my brother, he was in the hospital for about three years, but I never got to go see him. But he always looked so healthy in pictures and things like that, and yet, he survived for about two years... no, one full year after my sister died, and then he died, too. But in the meantime, there were other Japanese kids that had died.

TI: So this was a very difficult time for the family.

MY: Oh, yeah.

TI: Two deaths, two of your, just directly older siblings who died.

MY: Yeah. Then that was '32 or '33, I think.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright (c) 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.