<Begin Segment 16>

TI: So now we're back at Hood River. Did you tell your parents or ask your parents' permission about getting married? So you decided that you were going to go to Portland and get married to Milton.

MM: Oh. Mr. and Mrs. Yasui were the baishakunin like, and they were good, my folks were good friends with them. So they came over and talked.

TI: And so how did you and Milton communicate during this time period? Because he was so far away, did you write to each other, did you call?

MM: When you, you mean from when I was at Oregon State and he was in Portland?

TI: Yes.

MM: He'd come. He'd come quite often on the weekend (before the war began).

TI: So how would he do that? Because of the curfew, you weren't supposed to go more than five miles away.

MM: Oh, five, six miles away. Oh, we didn't communicate much at all, just on the phone. But then communicated more with his sister. She was making the wedding plans, Frances. She did all of it.

TI: Now, how long did you and Milton date before you decided to get married? When did you start dating?

MM: Senior year, and little bit of junior year.

TI: Okay, this is when you were at Oregon State.

MM: Not very long, not that long. But I knew him. He and Chop, Ray, were good friends. They used to, I think Milt used to go to Hood River sometimes and spend summer vacation, part of summer vacation in Hood River (...). He knew Chop well, they're family friends. (The Maedas and the Yasuis were good friends).

TI: And Chop Yasui married your older sister. And when did they get married?

MM: (1939).

TI: The war started?

MM: War. And then (Joanie Yasui) was born in Tule Lake.

TI: So there was just, so it seemed like with Mr. and Mrs. Yasui being the baishakunin, there was just a real closeness with your families.

MM: Yes. They even named me. [Laughs] They named me Molly.

TI: So the Yasuis had a tragedy, their oldest son...

MM: Son, yes. I didn't even know him.

TI: Oh, so you never knew Kay?

MM: He was older than Chop, right?

TI: Yeah, he was...

MM: I didn't know him.

TI: Chop was the second oldest, and Kay, who by written accounts was a pretty extraordinary young man. Did the family ever talk about that?

MM: No, they never did. They never did. But in that book it says, I read about it, and it says about he, they wanted him to be perfect, they wanted him to excel. Well, I think all the children in their family did excel. I mean, they were real good at whatever they did. They had a big family but they all went to school.

TI: No, it's an extraordinary family, and it was such a tragedy that he, according to the book, committed suicide when he was seventeen.

MM: But I guess I was too young, I guess. I don't even remember him at all.

TI: Yeah, I was just curious about, you guys were so close, whether or not it came up.

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2014 Densho. All Rights Reserved.