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TI: Okay, so let's talk about your mother. So what happened to her during the war?

PJH: She was also in Poston with her family. At that time, let's see, one, two, three, yeah, all the kids were in Poston with, with the family, and she was one of the oldest ones that, that was in camp. The others were already married and out. One auntie was able to completely miss the camp experience because this auntie had gone to UCLA and was directed by one of, a lady that, she had a Jewish family, that said, "You're gonna go and stay with my brother in Minneapolis and you're not going to go to camp." So that's my aunt got to Minneapolis. And when my mom was writing to my auntie in Minneapolis, "I got to get out of here," [laughs] and so my aunt found a sponsor for her, another Jewish family, and she was able to go to Minneapolis and do housework.

TI: That's an interesting story, so a Jewish woman helped, I guess, your aunt to relocate in Minneapolis to avoid the camp situation?

PJH: Yes.

TI: And is there any more to that story, anything in terms of why this woman did this or this relationship with your aunt that you've heard over the years?

PJH: I think she was, like, a schoolgirl and living in the home of this Jewish family so that she can go to UCLA and of course they, they bonded very closely and when the camp experience came up, yeah, the family really wanted to help her.

TI: Do you know if there were any discussions about, you know, World War II, the Holocaust or anything between the families, in terms of a reason to help Japanese Americans?

PJH: I never asked my auntie that, but that's a really great question.

TI: I was just curious because of the timing and everything. So your, your mother goes to Minneapolis, and what does she do in Minneapolis?

PJH: Actually was, she was trying to finish up her last year in high school.

TI: High school or college? I thought she was --

PJH: High school.

TI: So I thought she was UCLA?

PJH: That was my auntie. My auntie, yeah.

TI: Oh, your auntie. Okay. I'm sorry. That's right, your mother now, so high school.

PJH: So she had just one more year to finish high school before she went into camp, and so she finished high school and she was also helping as a maid and doing house, housework.

TI: Did she have any stories about what it was like in Minneapolis for her?

PJH: Cold. [Laughs] That's where she met my dad. She would, the explanation was that, "Oh, there was this kind of funny guy that would come by and he always wanted to take me out and he, oh," was her explanation. [Laughs] And then one day this guy brought my dad with him and after that they, they got together.

TI: Oh, so initially she was, this other guy was interested?

PJH: She was with the other guy.

TI: But then, and then your dad was brought into the picture.

PJH: Yes.

TI: And she was more interested in your, in your dad than --

PJH: Well I don't know. She didn't, didn't really go into detail about that. "How did that happen?" "Oh, I don't know." [Laughs]

TI: Interesting. Okay, and so did they get married in Minneapolis?

PJH: They did. And my brother was born in Minneapolis, so my understanding, they had to get married. [Laughs] So yeah, my brother was born in 1945, September 1945, they were married in February of 1945.

TI: And, and so when the war was over, what happened next with your...

PJH: Oh dear, from there they went down to Arizona where my grandparents, her parents were, and they were staying there for a while and my mom, I think that the plan was to go back up to Minnesota, but my mom refused. "I'm not going to go back." So my father left her there for maybe a month or two and then he went and kind of cleaned up what was happening in Minnesota, came back down from Arizona, I believe they tried to, I think, I'm sorry, between Minneapolis and Arizona I think they tried to go outside in the Midwest a bit, but it didn't work out. She wanted to join her older sister whose husband was also farming in, it was either Idaho or Wisconsin, and then that didn't really fare out too well. That's how they went, ended up going to Arizona. From Arizona, then they went to Santa Barbara where my father's parents were living, and then from there my father got a job in San Francisco, so went up to San Francisco to repair cameras. I understand that he was even repairing Ansel Adams' cameras. He also, I guess my grandfather gave my parents some money to buy a home in San Rafael, and so that's how they got to San Rafael.

TI: And why San Rafael and not San Francisco?

PJH: Oh, I forgot, let's see, when he got the job in San Francisco he did, they did find a home through the Buddhist church. They had an apartment on Pine Street, so they lived there for a couple years and then from there they went to San Rafael.

TI: And so did he work in San Francisco, but they commuted from San Rafael? Or did he just start working in San Rafael?

PJH: Okay, I don't know how long he was doing the camera. I think maybe the camera repair was when they were in, in just San Francisco. They lived there until 1948 or so. 1948, '49 they bought the home in San Rafael. Then my father became a carpenter, and so he was, was just very, very talented with his, with his hands. I don't know if he actually went through carpentry school, but he was immediately on the line and building homes, and from there he was doing that for a number of years and then got work at the, the rad lab, the radiation laboratory in Livermore.

TI: Okay, that's a pretty long drive.

PJH: Yes, it was. [Laughs] It, let's see, that was probably about 1956 to 1958, he was, for a long time he was a carpenter and then the last two years in San Rafael he was commuting to Livermore, taking the ferry from Tiburan, I believe, to get over to East Bay and then drive to Livermore and come back, so he would have, like, fifteen hour days.

TI: Wow. Yeah, that's a long drive.

PJH: So that's why they decided, let's move. [Laughs] After two years of that, then they moved to Fremont.

TI: Okay.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.