<Begin Segment 20>

TL: Were, you mentioned earlier, a young boy named Ramon, did he attend the same schools?

YB: He was going to the same grade school, we were in the first, second and third grades... together. (While) I was living in Sisquoc... (before my marriage). I went to Santa Maria, to see my parents. And then I was going to move to Seattle (after) I got married so, while (in) Santa Maria (I decided) to go to Sisquoc and see... the Ontirveros, 'cause I had known the grandmother for so long. And Ramon was there that day, he was 6 foot (tall). "Chona, you haven't grown one bit!" he looks at me. [Laughs] Never called me Yone... Chona, that was my nickname from him. And he picked me up like [Inaudible], "You're not going to go away already?" I said, "Yes." "You haven't grown one bit!" [Laughs] And he comes from a very wealthy family and married into a wealthy family, but I think because of that he's remarried a couple of times. And someone else says, "Ramon... oh, he turned out to be a naughty boy." [Laughs] But I imagine that was because of his wealth, he must have had too good of a time.

TL: Were there other Mexican Americans in your classes?

YB: Yes, there were. And a few Caucasians, Williams, and I cannot find where they might have disappeared to. One was my classmate and one was younger, the two sisters, and we were very close. I tried locating them but I don't know where they've disappeared to. And the Ontiveros are not there any more, everybody's moved away. And there might be someone there at the hacienda, this is a beautiful structure of a home overlooking the fields and I thought one of these days I'd still like to go back and see who's living there.

TL: Did the same classmates that you went to elementary school, continue on through the upper grades together?

YB: No because I moved from Siquoc out to Santa Inez (and then out to Santa Barbara).

TL: Okay.

YB: Which is completely another town. And then when I did go to high school where the children from Solvang, the Danish children (attended). One of the girls come and says, "Yone, you may not know it but you're not just a Japanese." And I said, "I'm not?" "You're a Japanese squarehead." (The Danish called themselves "squareheads.") And they were all really very nice to me.

TL: Were their families equally accepting, in the sense of inviting you or making you feel welcome to their social occasions?

YB: Yes, I've had, I've had quite a few, I've had... and the principal and his wife were just outgoing. In fact I became one of the closest friends of the principal's sister-in-law, Josephine Winters. And she wrote to me for years and I think she's passed on. And she and her husband used to travel abroad every year, they were both teachers. I lost track of them but they could have passed away. Lot of my classmates are gone now. I might have outlived them, I don't know.

<End Segment 20> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.