<Begin Segment 19>

TI: So I want to ask about, because when you're in Chicago is when you met your wife?

RH: Uh-huh.

TI: So how did you meet your wife?

RH: Through those groups that I was telling you about. She was in one of the girl's groups, I was in one of the boy's groups. But this one group was my brother's group and okay so he says, "We're going to go to the sand dunes, we're going to meet at this place around nine or ten o'clock," whatever it was. And I says, "Go ahead, I'll find something." And I was the only one that wouldn't be going. And this guy says, "Come on, you ain't doing nothing, come on." And so I went and that's when I met her. I says, holy cow, I just... love at first sight.

TI: Was that for her also?

RH: No, I don't think so. No, I don't think so.

TI: So you fell in love with her and you sort of pursued her?

RH: Yeah, I couldn't remember her name even afterwards. Well, I just knew her as Jane and I didn't know her last name and I asked the other girls what her last name was and where she lived and no one knew or they weren't telling me.

TI: That's a good story. And then you started dating her after that?

RH: Yeah, it took a while, it took a long time because she was so young, she's younger than me.

TI: But eventually you got married and had children?

RH: Yeah.

TI: So how many children do you have?

RH: We had three.

TI: And why don't you tell me their names kind of in birth order.

RH: Okay, first one was Gwynne, G-W-Y-N-N-E, and then Jeffrey and then Larry.

TI: And Gwynne is, she's the teacher down in Springfield?

RH: Yeah.

TI: And where does Jeffrey live?

RH: He lives in Wilmette.

TI: And then Larry?

RH: Larry lives about two miles from where I live.

TI: Okay, so they all kind of stayed, except for your daughter, kind of stayed in the area. So, Richard, those were all my questions I had. Is there anything else you wanted to mention or talk about that... is there something that maybe when you talk to the students or just anything that comes to mind, anything else that you want to talk about?

RH: Well, I didn't mention one thing about during camp life. The guys got to know the mayor of Granada and the mayor was the chief of police, the justice of the peace and what else was he? And then had his own little business on the side where he was buying and selling... buying animals that were killed, like coyotes and things like that and selling the pelts. So he bought a lot of these animals and he would skin 'em and the carcasses would be piled up in his yard, stunk like hell. Anyway we got to know him, he was also a janitor of the high school, he did all kinds of things. Anyway we used to go over there and try to learn to trap coyotes and so we bought a trap from him and he said, "Be careful because the stuff that's inside of this blank shell, .38 shell, is cyanide. So one guy was setting it and it blasted off in his face and killed him so be careful." And so we set the trap out there about half a mile from camp, and we got a magpie. So we just gave it up, but it was one of those things that it shoots up through the middle tube and you put a rabbit fur on the outside and then leave the middle open so that the, when they grab it to eat it, it would just blast off into their lungs and kill them. I mention that because we used to go over there to see him and that's how I got to know these guys about the guns, the three rifles that I bought.

TI: So was the mayor the one who sold it to you or one of his friends?

RH: No, it was one of the guys that was standing on the side there.

TI: I just wanted to clarify. When the mayor told you about the person who got shot in the face and died, that wasn't anyone that you knew, was it?

RH: No.

TI: It was just a story he was telling you so that you guys would be really careful.

RH: That's right.

TI: Good story.

RH: Other than that I can't think of anything that would interest you.

TI: There are probably other things that probably can't tell me that would interest me. [Laughs]

RH: Well, when I came to Chicago I had to straighten out, I really had to straighten out because I knew now I'm in a different ballpark. If I go astray and do these bad things that I did, you go to jail.

TI: Well, Chicago was a pretty rough town though, too, during that time.

RH: Yeah.

TI: And it's almost like in my mind kind of this interesting combination of Japanese Americans coming out of camp wanting to kind of fit in, in kind of a rough and tumble city. And it seems almost a contradiction in some ways.

RH: Yeah.

TI: But apparently it worked really well for many of you.

RH: Yeah, it did, it was hard for me because my dad wanted me to go to college but I told him no. And so I had to work my butt off to get where I got.

TI: Well, Richard, thank you so much for the interview. This was not only very interesting but very entertaining. I really enjoyed this, so thank you.

RH: Okay.

[Narr. note: I got interested in trap shooting in 1961, it was fun and so I pursued it. I joined the Amateur Trapshooting Association. In 1962 the family and I went to "The Grand American" which is big shoot involving the best shooters of the USA and the world. We went to the Grand every year until 1990 then we quit. But in 1964, I shot 94 out of 100 in class D doubles to win my class. I would have stayed for pictures for the magazine, but there disqualification of two men in front of me, didn't know about, so I went home. Also, I was first in my yardage of 20 yards that year.

I persuaded my wife to shoot, because several women at the gun club were shooting. Well she became very good. She won many trophies, as well as, high over all, out shooting the men. I don't remember which years, but, Jane and I won "husband and wife" trophy State of Illinois twice, between 1964 and 1967.]

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