<Begin Segment 22>

SY: So when you came to L.A. and you lived there for a few --

PM: Six months.

SY: -- six months, who was there at the time, among your siblings?

PM: I think you were there, and Susie was there and Betty was there, and I don't remember Victor. Maybe he was there. He had to be there, I guess. And Keiko.

SY: So it was big enough. And so the older, your older siblings had already left?

PM: Well, Mary Jane had gotten married before me, so she was gone. Yes. And then Evelyn was still there, and so was Arlene. Yes.

SY: Right. So then, and then what about Betty? Tell us about Betty and how Betty met her husband.

PM: Well, because we were going to church together the Mikunis had only one car, so I always wanted to take Betty with me to church. So Willie is the younger brother of Fred and so he was always in the car, and that's how they met, and then they started going out together after a while.

SY: And they ended up getting married.

PM: Yes. Now happily married for over fifty years.

SY: And you were, does she ever thank you for that?

PM: No. [Laughs]

SY: You were the catalyst.

PM: They just ran out of boys. We could've used more. [Laughs] They're a very nice family.

SY: And they had, there were, were there, being from a family of all girls like that, were there a lot of guys coming in and out, like dates?

PM: Of the house?

SY: Uh-huh.

PM: I didn't see it, no.

SY: You didn't, you had just a few people you went out with.

PM: You mean before the war?

SY: Before and after the war.

PM: After the war I was married, I mean when I came back to Los Angeles.

SY: You got married fairly --

PM: I was in Denver for ten years, so during that time I got married and had two children.

SY: It was fairly soon. And so Betty didn't, she didn't date very much before she got married and married Willie?

PM: No.

SY: And then you... I guess that's true. So you were the only ones that were sort of marriage age at that time in Denver. And he, Daddy was very strict. Was he as strict with Betty as he was with you?

PM: I don't think so.

SY: He already knew the family, so that was good.

PM: Yes. [Laughs]

SY: So did she, when, everybody moved to L.A. at the same time? Did the whole family that was in Denver move except for you? Or was it...

PM: Yes, the whole family except for us.

SY: So you were the only one that stayed in Denver.

PM: But the, I think Mary Jane was already gone. She got married before me.

SY: And where did she go?

PM: She went... where did she go? Nome? I don't remember. Did they go to Conoco Park?

SY: So they might've moved -- I remember they went to East Coast for a while.

PM: That's right.

SY: I don't know when, though, they left 'cause that was before I think I knew. But so when you came to Los Angeles Betty had already moved out of the house? She was living with her husband by the time you came to Los Angeles.

PM: I think so.

<End Segment 22> - Copyright &copy; 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.