<Begin Segment 19>

TI: Going back, I'm thinking about the influence of the war. If you, if the war didn't happen, I'm just thinking on the impact on people that live in small towns because in some ways, well, it forced you out of Walnut Grove, it exposed you to lots of different people, and then your case even sent you to New York. I guess I'm trying to get a sense of, what do you think would've happened to you if the war didn't happen?

MB: Well, I'd probably finish high school there and go to college as my brothers did, and it was my parents' wish that we graduate college and improve our status, not live in Walnut Grove and go hoeing and picking pears or whatever, and have a better, regular life instead of seasonal work. And so we'd be like anybody else who's trying to make a living here.

TI: And so did your, before your mother died, did she share those dreams with you, that she wanted a better life for you and your brothers?

MB: Not really. I mean, but I'm sure... my mother's side of the family didn't want her to come here. They're generations of physicians and, but I guess it was love and she came and she really had to work hard all her life, 'cause she died so young, she was forty-five, and we couldn't even communicate with Japan 'cause of the war and they didn't know until my father went there, I forget, '50 or whenever -- he was one of the first to be able to travel -- and went to see her side of the family and told her, told them that she had died. And her sister just cried and cried and was just so heartbroken. But fortunately in '35, I was only five, I guess, and my brother was starting Cal, and I guess they wanted to show her family that he's having his children be educated, and so they kind of loosened up with her and that she was able to visit with them. So I guess my father wasn't blamed for living in such poor, almost poverty. [Laughs] But that was, people gave us fruits and vegetables in the country and we didn't starve. We didn't eat steaks every night, but we managed.

BT: Well, what's unusual is that all of the children went to college and also that they emphasized education for the daughter. You know, a lot of the girls in Walnut Grove didn't go to college.

MB: Yeah. Probably wanted me to get married to someone who did go to college and wouldn't be out there hoeing, pulling weeds. [Laughs]

TI: So Marion, is there anything else that you want to talk about? We've covered a wide range of topics and events in your life. Is there anything else that we've missed that is important to you that we should talk about?

MB: I can't think of any.

TI: Barbara, do you have anything else that...

BT: Well, I think your story to me is unusual because of your interaction with different racial groups very early.

MB: Especially someone from Walnut Grove living in that Japanese community.

BT: Uh-huh, and becoming a social worker you deal with a lot of different sort of people when you were working, right?

MB: Uh-huh.

BT: And I'm wondering if the, if you think that your background has given you more insight into the kind of issues that people deal with?

MB: Oh, I don't think so. You know, I related or made friends with workers and they weren't especially, we weren't that do-gooders as such. [Laughs]

BT: Well, and with your husband, that his background is from the Philippines, right?

MB: He's what?

BT: Your husband is Filipino?

MB: Uh-huh.

BT: Has that been an issue with people that you know?

MB: No. Maybe, but I don't think so. My father was against it certainly.

BT: But he never said anything, did he?

MB: No. He said it to my brother. Yeah. But not to me.

BT: But they really didn't directly tell you that you should not do this, right?

MB: Yeah. You know, he's happy that we're comfortable and doing okay and nothing negative about our lives.

BT: Yeah, it's just so unusual in Walnut Grove for people to do things that are not traditional or not the common thing, so, so...

MB: Maybe he was that way.

BT: Yeah.

TI: Okay. Well Marion, so thank you so much for doing this interview.

MB: You're welcome.

TI: This was, this was really interesting. And I think Barbara's right. I think you in your life had to, in some ways I think because of the death of your mother, and really were pushed out into a much bigger world than most Niseis.

MB: Yeah, I'm sure that made a big impact on my life and changed my life, yeah.

TI: So, again, thank you so much.

MB: Oh, you're welcome. I like, kind of enjoyed thinking back about my life, that I never did.

TI: Well good. I'm glad.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.