<Begin Segment 21>

TI: Okay, so you're now in San Diego, attending college, and I think it's about this time where you met your first wife.

JK: Yeah.

TI: So tell me about that. How did you meet your first wife?

JK: That's a funny story. Remember I told you my mother was very religious? Alright, so she said, "You know what, now that you're home, why don't you go, start going to church again like you used to when you lived with us all?" Said, "There's, the reverend is there, the missus is there, and the reverend has three daughters and two sons, and they're all about your age." Da da da. So I said okay, so like a good son, I did what my mama told me to do, right? I went to church, and that's where I met, I met the reverend's oldest daughter. Her name was Miriam, Miriam Kikuchi, and she and I got to be good buddies. She's a little older than me. And so we started commuting to San Diego State College together because the church was close to where my mom and dad lived, and so we started socializing at church and everything. I could see her every morning. We'd go to school, come home, and then in the meantime, when I went to the admissions at the state college, I was standing in line and there was another Nisei guy in the other line. His name was Paul Oyama, and I didn't know who he was, he didn't know who I was, but then somewhere along the line, turns out that Paul Oyama had a severe crush on this Miriam Kikuchi, okay? And so we ended up meeting each other and everything, and then he and she started dating and stuff, and so then in the meantime, then I'm going to church and I spotted this lovely lady in church, somewhere around, I don't know, after I started school so it'd be the fall, right? And I told Miriam, I says, "You ought to get me a date with that young lady." And she pussyfooted around for, I don't know, three, four months, she said, "No, she's dating a guy who has a job. He's out of college and he already has a job, so forget it." [Laughs]

TI: 'Cause you're a lowlife student. [Laughs]

JK: That's right. You said it, I didn't. [Laughs] But anyway, make a long story short, Miriam finally got, we got a date, she got me a date after the New Year, somewhere around there, and we double dated, so that's what happened. And then I got to meet Paul, and every chance we get we'd socialize. And Paul was about the same size as me, stature-wise, so we used to exchange clothing so that we could look like we had a lot of, big wardrobes and stuff. In our era, it's classic, we're just all from World War II era, so we went to go see all, every time a big band came to town we'd go to the local Pacific Ballroom, go to a dance, classic things. So we knocked around, and yeah, Paul and Miriam got married, in fact. I just talked to Miriam three days ago, and they just celebrated their sixty-second wedding anniversary. I was the best man at their wedding, and Paul likewise was for my wedding. And we've been lifelong friends.

TI: That's good.

<End Segment 21> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.