Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Molly K. Maeda Interview
Narrator: Molly K. Maeda
Interviewer: Tom Ikeda
Location: Seattle, Washington
Date: April 17, 2014
Densho ID: denshovh-mmolly-01-0023

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TI: When you think about your life, how do you think the wartime experience changed your life?

MM: Change?

TI: Yeah. I was thinking, one, it sort of accelerated your marriage. I mean, you got married maybe a little faster than you thought you might?

MM: I think... I think I would still have lived in Portland, probably. And I think my daughters, they probably would have gone to University of Oregon or Oregon State. I think we'd all be living in Portland.

TI: If the war didn't happen?

MM: Uh-huh. But since he came to Boeing to work since '55, 'til he passed away. So they both went to University of Washington. Although Diane went to Oregon State for a couple years to get her master's in clothing, and then she switched (to Urban Planning). [Laughs]

TI: So any other... well, there was one thing I wanted to back up. You mentioned how you were a really good student at Oregon State. In high school, were you also one of the top students?

MM: Yes, one of the five top (of graduating class).

TI: Now, of those top five, how many were Japanese?

MM: (Many Japanese were excellent students in high school).

[Interruption]

TI: And what rank were you?

MM: I don't know. They just said top five.

TI: Okay, top five (of the graduating class that year). You were the only Japanese, and the rest were Caucasian. Now, do you stay in touch with people that you grew up with in Hood River?

MM: One. One person lives in... no, she wasn't in high school, but her husband was in Dee. Went to Sunday school, elementary, high school, college together. He just passed away last year, but he was from the sawmill, Dee sawmill days. But I keep in touch with his widow, she's still in Kennewick. That's the only person.

TI: So I came to the end of my questions. Is there anything else that you want to share about your life?

MM: My life?

TI: Yeah, anything that you think is important for people to know?

MM: Oh, I think I've been lucky. My dad had a small farm, but he wanted us to have an education. And it was a struggle, but he always tried to make it, he's going to make enough to send us to school. No one can take it away, you've got to go to school. To be a good person, you've got to go to school.

TI: When you moved to Seattle, you raised the family. Did you ever go back to work after that in Seattle?

MM: Temporary, and a mail order company at home for several years. And after I moved to... sold my house and moved to Eastlake, I worked for... what's his name? Mayumi's former husband. Glen Chin in the office there (in the I.D.) I worked in the office there for him.

TI: Any regrets? You mentioned earlier that you feel like you had a lucky life. Any regrets in your life that you wish you could do something over?

MM: Oh, if the... I think things would have been very different if it wasn't for the war. I think I would be an Oregonian, I think. But Seattle was fine. I'm more of a Washingtonian than Oregonian because '55 we moved up here. No, both my daughters worked out fine. (...) They just graduated, both (had) finished when my husband passed away, so I was glad that they had college. So I think life has been good to me. (My husband passed away too early at age fifty-seven).

TI: Well, I think so, too. So, Molly, thank you so much for doing this interview.

MM: Oh, you're welcome. There are a lot of things I probably can't remember. You can see these pictures and you can tell.

TI: No, you did a wonderful job, so thank you again.

[Narrator note: We worked a lot when old enough to do so. Mother, Mikie, and I went strawberry picking; when ripe in the lower Hood River valley, we picked. Then we went to the Upper H.R. Valley (closer to Mt. Hood) to pick. These were Japanese farmers. When cherries were ripe, Mikie and I rented a room in Hood River city and packed cherries at the Association packing house.

However, Dad took us to the Oregon coast for vacations many times. We traveled in a Model-A Ford to Yellowstone, Utah San Francisco area, etc. They weren't modern motels... more like camping. We had to work, but we played, too.

I am grateful to my family, relatives, friends and Blaine Memorial United Methodist Church. They have helped me so much and given me support through these many years.]

<End Segment 23> - Copyright © 2014 Densho. All Rights Reserved.