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TI: So you were born, you were the first born, you were born in Modesto. So by then your father had moved to Modesto and did he buy the laundry business?

RH: Yes.

TI: So tell me a little bit about the laundry business. What was it like?

RH: It was a hard business. I think, as I remember, they used to do the wash, hand wash, scrub stuff like that. And then later on my dad bought washing machines and so forth. And then he wanted to expand a little more so he bought a piece of property, built a building on there, had laundry in the back and press machines in the front to iron the clothes. Later on he went into dry cleaning as well but he didn't go into the plant, the dry cleaning plant because it takes time. And he sent the dry cleaning out to another cleaners to have it cleaned and then he would press it. And then he ordered the machinery for dry cleaning but the war broke out and then he was able to cancel the order.

TI: Oh, interesting, so he was kind of going into becoming his own little plant?

RH: Yes.

TI: But that was right before the war.

RH: That's right.

TI: So I want to kind of go all the way back to when it was hand washing at the laundry. So how many people worked at the laundry?

RH: As I remember it was only Mom and Dad.

TI: So they did all the hand washing?

RH: And the ironing and all that.

TI: Oh, that's hard work.

RH: Hard work.

TI: And who were the clients?

RH: Well, the people around there, mostly neighborhood people and then people started dropping off, driving up and dropping off their laundry, picking it up.

TI: Now as you got older, did you start helping at the laundry?

RH: No, I was a sickly child. I really was, and my dad didn't want me to do anything. He didn't want me to do anything so my brother George had to do a lot of the work that I would be doing. And I was so sickly that the doctor would call my dad up and tell him that, "There's this going around, bring your kid in and we'll give him a shot." So every time he says we're going to doc, oh, I knew I was going to get shot so I really didn't want to go. But, yeah, doctor used to do that and I was so sickly that they thought I was going to kick the bucket before my time. Says, "Well, about the time, about fourteen years old he will change, his body will change." And sure enough, that's when we had to go to camp, I was thirteen and everything changed after that.

TI: And so when you're sickly like that... right now I look at you, you look so healthy, so sickly in terms of always getting sick or was there a kind of special... if you were to think back now was there a name for what you had?

RH: No, I can't remember a name but if there was a flu going around or colds going around, something going around, he would say, "Bring him in for... I want to see him," every time get a shot.

TI: And so in terms of activities did they try to keep you inside a lot? And just like read and play inside kind of thing?

RH: Yeah, well, he kept an eye on me all the time, didn't want me to go out and play around like the kids did but I had my ways of getting around that. You know how kids are.

TI: Was part of this also in reaction to losing Ben because Ben died of pneumonia?

RH: Yeah.

TI: I'm wondering if a parent if they lost a child for illness, they would be really really, careful with the other children too.

RH: Yeah, at age five I got pneumonia and my fever went up to a 107 and they thought I was going to die. And doctor says, "Go out and catch some carp," get the blood out of there and bring it up to him at the hospital, "and I'll see to it that the nurses are not around at that time and you bring it in and make him drink it. I can't do that but you can and make him drink it." And then so ever since then he used to keep carp in our swimming pool and stuff like that. Then after a while it just got too much for him to keep care of and so he after they all died he let it go but it was okay.

TI: Because after the hospital he kept feeding you... having you drink the blood of the carp?

RH: Yeah.

TI: Okay, so who was this doctor, a Japanese doctor?

RH: No, white doctor, Dr. Gould, they named a clinic after him over there in Modesto. I think it's the same doctor. I went in there and asked but they couldn't give me a good answer.

TI: So he was kind of naturopathic healer also, this is kind of a natural way of curing illnesses.

RH: You know back then in the '30s, early '30s there was nothing, I mean no antibiotics, no nothing so he just worked out the fever, cold compresses and stuff like that, that was it. So I guess he heard about the carp blood so he said, "Feed it to him."

TI: Now I've never heard that before. So since then, have you heard of other people drinking the blood of carp?

RH: No.

TI: Interesting. I'll have to do a search on Google on there, I'm curious now.

RH: I think it was more the pleurisy because they made a hole in my back and drained my lungs every day. Every day they would do something and drain the lung.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.