<Begin Segment 18>

MN: Now why did you move, okay, 1949, why did you move from Des Moines to Chicago?

YH: 'Cause my father thought there weren't, there were no Japanese American males in Des Moines, and he wanted the four girls to get married to Japanese American males.

MN: Was it difficult to find housing in Chicago?

YH: Yes. But, 'cause I would look in the want ads every day when I was there, 'cause my father was there before I was and he had one room above a saloon on the first floor. The saloon was on the first floor, or bar, and then the second floor were all apartments. And the subway was below the saloon. And so I'd look in the want ads every day for an apartment, and then every day I'd go out on the bus, the train, and I go west because that's where most of the apartments were. 'Cause if you got too close to Lake Michigan the rents are really high, and we couldn't afford that.

MN: But eventually you found appropriate housing, but you didn't live with your family. What happened?

YH: Oh yes, my, I had a friend who was living in Hyde Park and she was moving to the YWCA apartment a few blocks away, so she wanted someone to replace me. And so I replaced her in Hyde Park in this big mansion that was owned by Dr. and Mrs. Chauncey Carter Maher, and they had one son.

MN: So were you like a live-in?

YH: Yes.

MN: So you worked for room and board.

YH: Yes, and that, but I also had a job outside the house.

MN: Now at this time were you attending church?

YH: Yes.

MN: Which church were you attending?

YH: The First Baptist Church in Chicago.

MN: Can you tell us who you met at this church?

YH: Yes, I met William at that church, but first I met Tom Tajiri and he said that there was a fellow that he'd like to introduce me to, and that was William.

MN: What was it about William that attracted you to him?

YH: Well, he was, he was sort of a shy person and he was very nice. And he used to, he used to, I used to sit on the handlebars of his bicycle and we'd go over, go all over on the bicycle like that.

MN: That's kind of funny because you're on the bicycle and then when your father was courting your mother, he'd come in a motorcycle.

YH: Right.

MN: So it's almost the same. Now how often did you see William at this time?

YH: Probably about once a week, on the weekend. 'Cause he lived southeast and I lived northwest, so when he came by train he had to transfer twice.

MN: So it was a long journey for him.

YH: Yeah.

MN: But he was very committed, it sounds like.

YH: Yeah.

MN: How long were you two courting before you got married?

YH: Well, I'd say less than a year.

MN: How did William propose to you?

YH: He didn't propose at all. He, one day he came, he came with a paper bag and in the paper bag there was a little box. I opened the box and that was my, my ring was in that box, this ring right here. And it, I said, "I like it." I put it on and it just fit. So I've had it for over sixty years.

MN: Were you surprised to find the ring in there?

YH: No, 'cause I saw the box. I knew it was a ring.

MN: So you were just waiting.

YH: I wasn't waiting. I didn't expect it, 'cause he got it at the Celini shop in Evanston, (Illinois).

<End Segment 18> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.