<Begin Segment 23>

TI: So Jack, I'm curious, you're eighty-three and you're still working. Why do you continue to work at eighty-three?

JK: You know, I think in some respects it's because I've done this all my life, it's part of my entire lifestyle, and the fact that I can stay connected, what I call the real world, and then to think that there are people who think I can bring value to the enterprise with my knowledge and experience. And in some respects I say, well, it's kind of flattering that... I started out on my own, me and my late business partner, we formed this small company. We, what, we had about twenty-five, twenty-six at the peak, and then we got bought out by another firm that had, I want to say maybe four hundred. And then that firm got bought out by a firm that had eight thousand, and then that firm got bought out by a firm that had three hundred and twenty-five thousand. And then the firm that had three hundred twenty-five thousand, they divested the engineering section, so I'm back to a firm that's about maybe fifty, sixty thousand. And then to think that during all these transfers of ownerships... in fact, the last transfer that I made, they said, "Who are you?" I said, "I just came with the furniture." [Laughs]

TI: And they're probably saying, "What's this old guy here for?" [Laughs]

JK: What's this old guy? I said, "Well, I'm the designated old guy, and I think I bring you a little ethnic diversity." Da da da. But in all seriousness, yeah, I just, I think that I find it rewarding personally because I can share what I have with the colleagues that I work with. And then I can, and strangely enough too, a lot of my work is business development and so most of the people you'd say, "Well, haven't they all retired?" Well yes, but I have, but I cultivated relationships with all the new guys too, so the new guys still know who I am by virtue of the guys that were there beforehand. And this is maybe a little vain on my part, but I was recently rewarded with a, I joined an honor roll of participants around the local agency. It's their fiftieth anniversary and they, they created an honor roll of twelve people who were there from the beginning and helped establish this enterprise, and they awarded, they made twelve of 'em, one for each month of the year. That's just kind of part of the fiftieth anniversary. And so I was one of those named as an honoree, and they gave me a big plaque. I thought it was interesting that they remembered who the folks were that started this all. People yelling at us and calling us names, and particularly to see us so successful.

TI: Well, I just wanted, an observation is, eighty-three, you're working, and in terms of your mental capacity, your physical capacity, it's quite impressive. I've interviewed quite a few people your age, and in general, they're not as good a shape as you are, in terms of both mentally and physically.

JK: Well, thank you. You know, in all honesty, yeah, maybe there's somewhere in this thing too, if I can do a little quick preaching, is that you've seen a little bit of my lifestyle, but when I turned forty I had a, they think I had a heart attack and the doctor told me that I wouldn't live to fifty. And he says, "You better do something, buster, or your widow and your three children are gonna be without you, and they're gonna, you're gonna be dead by fifty." And so he whispered in my ear, and that, I think that more than anything changed my life, because my late wife, bless her heart, I didn't, hell, I became uninsurable, the whole nine yards. So I had to lose thirty-five pounds, quit smoking, quit drinking, quit working twenty-four hours a day, and I had to go on the road, get up every morning, go jogging. Took me five years in order to rehab myself to where an insurance company would insure me with a penalty. That's how bad off I was. And I tell people now, I say, "I am now at the age of eighty-three, I can almost fit in my navy uniform when I joined the navy at seventeen. And I do that with discipline." And I credit -- actually, and this is what, I'm serious about it -- I credit this, I think about my mom and dad and what they had to do with their lives, mentally and physically. My mom and dad were moving and grooving, my dad until eighty-six, my mom until eighty-four. And she passed away out of loneliness because after, my dad passed away and she was gone in nine months. But other than that... and so I tell people, I say, "You know, if you ever have an interest," I don't ever want to get conceited about this, but, and that's what, again, that's the reason why I go to the office too, I want to stay connected with young people, young people like your daughter, my children, my grandchildren.

[Note: the following is not included in the video portion of the interview.]

JK: You know, I want to go back and talk a little bit about Patti. We had talked about, back in 1949, early '50s, meeting Patti while you were in San Diego. So let's talk a little bit about her, so what was her maiden name?

JK: Patricia Reiko Yoshikawa.

TI: And where was she from?

JK: She was born in Isleton, California. That's in the Sacramento Delta area. She was born and raised in the Delta area there.

TI: Okay. And tell me a little bit about her. How would you describe her?

JK: Oh man, just a lovely, lovely lady, and just made of steel like my mother, just absolute steel. She lost her mother when she was twelve, she lost her dad when she was fourteen, and she's on her own. And she had brothers and sisters who would help her, but she basically was an iron lady. Lovely, lovely, lovely lady.

TI: And then with her you had three children, so let's, can you tell me their names?

JK: Yeah, the oldest is Charlene, her middle name is Joyce, and she was born in 1952.

TI: Okay.

JK: See now, coincidentally, I've been in business sixty years, right, and she'll be sixty years old in June.

TI: That's a big milestone for her.

JK: That's right, that's right.

TI: And then you had two boys.

JK: Yeah, the two boys, Edwin Lester, he's born in 1955, and then Russell Alan, R-U-S-S-E-L-L Alan, and he was born in 1958.

TI: Okay. And you talked a little bit about raising them, in terms of how they would be a little rough at times too and how you would yell at them. And you mentioned that your first wife died.

JK: Yes.

TI: And how long ago was that?

JK: We were together for forty-four years. I met her in '49, so she passed away...

TI: '93?

JK: '93. '93, '94, yeah.

TI: Okay.

JK: Yeah, I lost her to ovarian cancer. Boy, that, talk about a silent killer. She was never sick a day of her life. And she was a petite, lovely Asian lady, and I met her, she was ninety-four pounds and this tall [holds hand up], four foot ten, and other than her three pregnancies, four foot ten, ninety-five pounds. She was an elegant dresser. And I'll tell you something about her, in terms of the kind of person she was, not only did she have discipline, she had all the money. See, I couldn't, I couldn't keep a dime in my pocket. When we bought our first home on the GI Bill, it was from her dowry. She, when we got married I had to borrow fifty bucks from my sister. She wept openly and said, "How could you possibly be such an idiot?" I said, "I'm okay." But in all seriousness, she was a magic, magical lady. She took care of the family.

And of course, she was a money manager. That's because she was orphaned at fourteen. She had to learn to be self-sufficient, and she's gonna teach those kids to do the same thing.

TI: Good, okay. And then later you remarried. You told me off camera about your nickname, Old Dog, and so tell me about your wife.

JK: Well, I met Gracie, actually it's, there's a family connection. Gracie has two older sisters, and the oldest of the sisters, her name is Hiroko and her nickname is Ski, she and my brother had been married for sixty-something years. So I had met Gracie when she was ten years old, when my brother was dating her big sister, and so we went on our different ways, and then after I became a widower I just, I was just having a good time being an old dog -- stray dog, by the way -- and I didn't think I'd remarry 'cause my mother taught me to cook, to sew. I can cook, sew, I can iron, I do all that housekeeping. But anyway, to make a long story short, after a while we decided to get married.

TI: And tell me the story about the dog tags. That was something.

JK: Okay, yeah, the deal was, I don't know how, just on some kind of a whim, I thought I'd get her a piece of jewelry, big spender that I am. So I got a replica, I had a jeweler make a replica of my navy dog tag, and that time that was kind of fashionable. Women wore this thing. And so on the front side it says Jack Yasuo Kubota, U.S., and Protestant, blood type, da da da, birthday, serial number. Then on the flip side I had it engraved, it says, "Gracie's old dog's tag." And that's, that's that story. [Laughs] So ever since then, that's my nickname.

<End Segment 23> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.