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JG: But the thing that's interesting, even apart from knowing the history in its kind of detail, is the fact that there are five generations of your family that have continued in this business, and for anyone who would be, I mean, any kind of outside observer, would wonder what, what is it that draws each new generation into the mortuary? I mean, it's a, it's an interesting thing. Did you grow up with any sense that you would be doing this?

GF: No, not really. I remember my parents saying, "What do you want to do when you grow up?" And they said, "If you're a doctor you don't have to go in the war." Oh, maybe I'll become a doctor. That's when I was real young, but that's... my father never pressured me. I said, "Dad, what would you do if I don't go into the mortuary?" "I'll just sell it." Never ever pressured me. I think my father received pressure from his father to take over the business, and that's one of the reason why, besides my sister being born in Japan, the other reason is that he was calling him to come over to help at the mortuary, and that's why he left Japan. Had he not then, who knows? Maybe I'd be in Japan now. I don't know. But I... can I talk about myself?

JG: Yeah, absolutely.

GF: I graduated high school in 1970. I went to Dorsey High School, and from there I went to USC and graduated USC. My major was pharmacy. And unfortunately, I'm not like the students today who are very focused and know what they want to do, I still didn't know what I want to do. I just, I guess maybe took after my dad. "Where's the next party?" And I wasn't a bad student, but I think I could've been a better student, so when it came time to decide to go into pharmacy school, I looked at my grades. Ooh, Gerry, ain't no way in hell you're gonna get in pharmacy school with those grades, so then I took one year at a business college to learn accounting and then went into the mortuary business.

JG: So that was more, did you see that as kind of a fall back at that time?

GF: Probably, it was more motivated, because what else am I gonna do? I was too stupid to go into pharmacy school so I might as well go into the family business, and in retrospect it was the best decision I ever made. Although, when I started working the mortuary I hated it. I did not like working there. Obviously, people pass away twenty-four-seven. Doesn't matter whether it's Christmas. Doesn't matter whether it's weekends. There are times I would work 8:30 to 5:00, and back then majority of our, all of our funerals were in the evening, so maybe I would work a funeral, and then I'd come home and then get a call. Someone passed away in a hospital, go remove the remains, come all the way in to work, pick up the remains, and then come back and work again 8:30, and that was pretty tough.

JG: What did you know, I mean, just growing up, what did you know about what it was that your father did, what, and, and...

GF: We, you know, we were all aware of what he did. As I mentioned, when we were younger we used to go to church, and because it's in close proximity to where the, our church is in close proximity to where the mortuary is, every Sunday we would stop by the mortuary and eat. And so we'd be playing around, so I think I was always aware of death. I was, I was introduced to death very early, 'cause there'd be remains there in state, and it wouldn't bother us.

JG: Did you have any sense of the role that your family played in the larger community? Did people talk to you about what your... did your friends ask you about what your father did?

GF: Yeah. When I was young, they said, yeah, "What does your father do?" "He's a mortician," and they'd be all freaked out and everything, but majority of my friends, they didn't really care. They didn't care at all.

JG: And what about you? Did you have any, I mean, did you ever feel embarrassed, for example?

GF: No, not at all.

JG: No. Okay, so it seemed like a fairly natural thing that your...

GF: Uh-huh. It's just natural as being born.

JG: Did your dad ever talk about work at home, what he did?

GF: Not to me. He may have spoken to, to my mother about it, but very rarely will, would he talk to us. Once in a while I'd hear him come home and he would tell my mom So-and-So passed away, I guess someone they knew, and sometimes it may be someone that we knew, but otherwise he didn't speak very much of it. It's just like myself. When I go home and if my kids are there, I don't talk about it. And it's not like I'm keeping this repressed. It's nothing to talk about. You did your, your job. I worked that day and now it's time to enjoy yourself.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.