<Begin Segment 8>

TI: So tell me a little bit about your mother. What was she like? I mean, like personality wise, how would you describe your mother?

MK: She was very liked by everybody else. She was, I think, a perfect lady for a minister's wife to run a congregation. She was firm in her ways, but she was always liked by the ladies who came to her, and they always came to listen to her. When she talked about anything they listened to what she had to say, and she was very influential with the women community in those days. That I remember, because when anybody had any problem they, as young as my mother was, the older lady would come to see my mom and talk about it, and she was, she was there.

TI: That's interesting. So an older woman would come to your mother. Do you know what kind of, maybe, topics they might talk about?

MK: Family problems. Husband problems. [Laughs]

TI: So she was giving advice about those things to older women?

MK: Yeah, you know, you... it was kinda upside down. You would think older woman, but then they wouldn't, when they would have any -- I guess they looking for some kind of comfort, so they would go and see Mom and then Mom talk to them. Maybe she did give advice, maybe she didn't, but she was a comfort to them.

TI: And how about your father? What kind of personality did he have?

MK: Kind of flamboyant, kind of politically inclined, I would kind of think. He wasn't really a politician, but then he could influence people to do different things he wanted to. He could, he knew how to play games and twist people.

TI: So he's really good with people, it sounds like.

MK: Uh-huh, he was very good with people.

TI: Was he a good speaker also?

MK: Yes, he was very good. He loved to speak. He loved to make speeches. He'd stay up there and talk for hours. If he, if you told him to speak he could continue to speak, never stop, and he loved it. He loved that attention; he loved being in the foreground.

TI: Okay, good.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.