Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Esther Takei Nishio Interview
Narrator: Esther Takei Nishio
Interviewer: Sharon Yamato
Location: Los Angeles, California
Date: September 21, 2011
Densho ID: denshovh-nesther-01-0026

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SY: And how was it that you got reunited with your husband, your future husband at the time?

EN: [Laughs] Well, I met him in Santa Anita. I was going around with someone else who knew Shig, so we were introduced but that was it. But after I came back to California and was living in Pasadena, apparently Shig had returned from Michigan. He was working in Michigan and came back to Whittier, and one of his friends said, "Do you know Esther Takei?" Said, "Yeah, I met her in Santa Anita." Said, "She's living in Pasadena." So, "Oh, why don't we go see her?" So he and his two friends came to visit me one day.

SY: Wow. So, and from that point on he was, you...

EN: That did it for me. [Laughs] He was such a sweetie, and I just thought the world of him, so he asked me for a date and that was it for me.

SY: I see. And you were still at Pasadena College then, or no?

EN: Let's see, I don't remember. I think I was working by then. I was working.

SY: But he had to commute from Whittier to see you.

EN: Right.

SY: And that was the only way you were able to get together.

EN: Yes, so we tried to see each other every Saturday, but sometimes he had to work or something so he'd miss our date.

SY: And so did he eventually move to Pasadena?

EN: After we got married, yes. [Laughs]

SY: Oh, you made him move to Pasadena rather than you move to Whittier.

EN: Right.

SY: That's how it worked out.

<End Segment 26> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.