<Begin Segment 18>

SY: And your dad, did he have a hard time? He obviously had a hard time working as a janitor.

MK: Yeah, well, before the war he was always in charge type and what he said went, but I think camp life really broke him and so many of the Issei men. So they didn't know what to do, they weren't qualified to do anything in camp being farmers so it was sad to see them deteriorate. But it was good for the women, I guess they got stronger, so I guess there's pros and cons about life in camp for the Isseis. But our dad, we could see that he really had a hard time.

SY: So he never was able to go back to farming?

MK: No, never. Closest he got was to doing gardening.

SY: Gardening. So he was able to do that for very many years?

MK: He lived to be ninety-two, something like that so he lived a full long life.

SY: And he worked as a gardener to the end of his life?

MK: Well, he was just only helping out by then, just to keep him busy.

SY: As long as he was active he was gardening or trying to work.

MK: And they had a little patch in the back yard where he would grow little vegetables and stuff. So I think that was good enough for him.

SY: And your mother never, when you came back from New York and lived... when they came back did she end up working?

MK: Yes, she became a seamstress. She always did sew for us, we had a lot of homemade clothes but she got a job on Wilshire Boulevard somewhere, men's shirt place. So that gave her her independence there too, she made her small spending money and all so she was really happy doing that.

SY: So did she talk about that whole transition?

MK: Never said too much, no she I think she just accepted everything, shikata ga nai attitude always.

SY: And as far as her relationship with all the kids being separated, did that change your relationship with your parents?

MK: No, I think it probably made it stronger. And the relationship they had with all the grandkids, they all just love her.

SY: That's great. So she stayed close really with the family.

MK: She was strictly a family person.

SY: And she eventually retired from working.

MK: She passed away in 2002. She was 101 years old but she went through Keiro, she went through, first the retirement home and then the ICF and then the nursing home.

SY: So she was in Keiro from the time she was in her nineties? Maybe talk a little bit about Keiro, it was a good experience for your family too?

MK: Oh, yeah, I think she participated in a lot of the activities that they had there which she wouldn't have been able to do otherwise. And being in a retirement home she had her own independence there.

SY: I see.

MK: Of course we were always able to go visit and take her places so I think she was very, very happy. At the beginning she didn't want to go in but then she found out it was the best place for her and she didn't ever want to be dependent on anybody, that I know. So she just did her own thing made a lot of good friends there.

SY: I see. That's nice. It was nice that you had that, huh?

MK: Oh, I should say, we were very indebted to Keiro.

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