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TI: Okay. So today is Wednesday, February 24, 2010, and we are in Culver City, and we are interviewing Marjorie Matsushita Sperling. On camera is Dana Hoshide, and I'm the interviewer, Tom Ikeda. So, Marjorie, thank you so much for being here this morning.

MS: Thank you.

TI: So I'm going to just really start from the beginning. Can you tell me when and where you were born?

MS: I was born in Wapato, Washington, in 1922.

TI: And what month and day?

MS: July 27th, '22. But the doctor was forgetting to register me, so legally, I was born on August 9, '22.

TI: Oh, so your birth certificate says August 9, but you were actually born on...

MS: Born on July 27th.

TI: So what day do you celebrate?

MS: On the 27th. [Laughs]

TI: And you said doctor, so were you born in a hospital?

MS: No, at home.

TI: Okay, so the doctor came to your...

MS: I think so, yeah.

TI: And for those people who don't know where Wapato, Washington, is, describe where Wapato is.

MS: Wapato is in Eastern Washington, and the largest city next to Wapato is Yakima, and it's lower valley. It's located about in the middle of the Yakima valley, and it seemed to be the hub of the Japanese community in the valley at that time.

TI: Okay, good. We'll get more into that.

<End Segment 1> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.