<Begin Segment 14>

TI: And so I want to ask about your parents, so what did your father do when he returned to Seattle? Because the dry cleaning business was gone.

MO: Yeah, he didn't have that. That's why he, he got a job as a night watchman at the Smith Tower. That's the one I remember, that's the job I remember he had. And they respected him and depended on him a lot because, it's like my mother always says, he's baka shojiki, he's so honest and hardworking and goes out of his way to do extra nice things. And the lawyers that, offices that he worked in and cleaned, they liked him an awful lot.

TI: Oh, so in addition to night watchmen he'd also, like clean offices at night and things like that?

MO: Uh-huh.

TI: Now how long did he do that at the Smith Tower?

MO: Well, let's see, when he came back from the war it was 1945. [to RO] When did they have that house? They bought that house, they were...

RO: Stayed at the Star Apartments.

MO: First at Star Apartments, then they bought that house. They were there for how many years? During that time he worked at, because he had to take a late bus to go to work down at Smith Tower when he was living out in the, across the street from the veterans' hospital, that house that they bought, cute little house.

TI: So it sounds like quite a while, though. I mean, he worked at Smith Tower for quite a few, number of years?

MO: Gee, I don't know many years. What would you say, Bob? Fifteen years?

RO: I have no idea.

TI: Okay.

MO: Yeah, I kind of lost track.

TI: No, that's okay. I was just curious. It's such an interesting, the Smith Tower is such a landmark building, and I was just curious about that, just about the, in some ways, the history of it. Did he ever tell you any interesting stories about the Smith Tower or working there or any of the people?

MO: No, except the lawyers were all awfully good to him and depended on him a lot. He had the names of, they gave him different gifts and things, I remember.

TI: That's good. Now how about your mother, what did she do?

MO: She did housework. She was ill quite a bit with asthma and depression and things, but she later got, once she started going to work and doing housework she became healthier. And she liked the people that she worked for and they were good to her, and it was kind of nice because she, she'd come home and tell me what she did and about the people she worked for and about what kind of these people were, wealthy people of course, and what kind of work they did. And it was quite interesting, and I was glad she was healthier and happier.

TI: That's good. And then, for you, after Roosevelt you mentioned going to Des Moines and then the Highline.

MO: Highline.

TI: And so that must've been hard for you because you had friends at Roosevelt and now you're going to a new high school. Was that, was that difficult for you?

MO: Well, I didn't have very much time for friends because I went to school and then I worked, did housework and things where I lived, and then I'd come home and help my parents and do things for them. So I really didn't have all that time. I'm trying to think now.

TI: That's okay. How about your older brother, George, what was he doing during this time? After the war what did he do?

MO: Let's see. He didn't get to graduate Lincoln, so he graduated in camp apparently. From there he went to Spokane. He worked in Spokane for a while, first with, I think it was a cold storage kind of place, was it? He was with Hit Kanzaki and Hiro Hara, and who else was there? [to RO] Do you remember some of those other guys? They were your class.

RO: I know the guys, but I don't think I knew George in camp.

MO: I can't remember them. Anyway, he was there, Spokane, for a while. Wait, when did he come back?

TI: Well that's okay. I was just curious if anything happened.

MO: Yeah, I'm trying to think. He married Aiko. Let's see, did he marry the year after we were married? The 1950s, wasn't it?

TI: Okay.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.