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MN: Now you were born in Reedley and you grew up in Reedley. Can you tell us what is so unique about this community?

LW: Unique about Reedley, it was good, must've been very good farming area. There, I think there were about two or three hundred families that came to that area, that is Japanese immigrant families, so we had quite a, a vibrant Japanese American community made up of immigrants. So while we're going through school, even from the first grade, we always had classmates who were Japanese Americans.

MN: Now, Reedley, I guess what I was thinking about, in terms of the Mennonites there, that there was, in talking to you there wasn't a lot of hostility in if you can share that community and how it interacted with the Japanese Americans.

LW: Yes, the Mennonite Brethren community was very strong in Reedley and Dinuba, those two areas, but the Mennonites seemed, I believe when they moved from Kansas out west they settled in Reedley in the Central Valley. They were very devout Christians and so they, they were very cordial, friendly to anybody, but especially the, we felt that they were especially cordial and kind to the Japanese Americans.

MN: Now, yourself, when did you start helping out on the farm?

LW: As soon as I was able to. Even carrying things as much as able to, taking care of some of the livestock, chickens, and caring for the livestock, but from the very beginning it was expected that any farm, any young man who grew up on the farm was expected to share in the farm work.

MN: So what was the busiest season for yourself?

LW: The biggest...

MN: The busiest. Is it summertime?

LW: Yes, the busiest, busiest season was harvest. That's when the figs and grapes ripened and were ready for harvest. The rest of the time it was all cultivating and getting, taking care of the dormant grapevines and figs, but harvest, soon as spring began we were getting ready for the harvest.

MN: Now your father had forty acres. That's, that's a large piece of property. Did he have to hire extra farmhands?

LW: As I remember, in my early days we hired very little extra help, and in the, during the harvest season we may have fired, hired a few helpers, but by and large us eight children were expected to share in the harvest, so we had a, we had a very important role as children in, on the farm.

MN: Now if your family had hired extra help, did your mother have to cook for them?

LW: No. We didn't have that many extra, as I remember, my mother never cooked for any hired help. She had enough on her hands cooking for us children as we, as we were growing up.

MN: Your father is growing grapes. Did he ever make his own wine?

LW: No, he never grew wine grapes. All the grapes were for table or for raisins, and so being a Christian and alcohol was taboo for Christian families, he was never into growing, growing grapes for wine.

MN: Did he make it for his own personal drinking?

LW: Beg your pardon?

MN: Did he make a few for his own personal drinking?

LW: [Laughs] Oh yes. In the growing, in the vines that were growing for raisins and for table, I call them maverick vines that a few of them produced other than the Muscats and Thompsons. My dad would go out and when they were ready for harvesting, when they were ripe, he would pick the grapes from these few vines, the maverick vines, and bring them into the barn and make his own wine.

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