<Begin Segment 11>

TI: So I want to now go back to your life and ask, so when did you get married?

EY: Oh, the same year.

TI: So 1958?

EY: Was it 1958?

TI: And how did you meet your wife?

EY: Oh, my family friend, my family friend got married, and my friend's new wife knew this lady. And she was instrumental. But I was very fortunate, she's been great.

TI: So that year was a very, both happy and sad year for you.

EY: That's right, that's right, yeah. I remember, I remember my brother helped us move, and he was teasing her about all the shoes she had. [Laughs] [Referring to wife].

TI: And what happened to your brother's wife? You said they were married for weeks before he died?

EY: It was just, she was married just a very, very short time. And I met her just once after that, and I never got to find out about... she had, I think, she had two daughters and a boy. And her mother was working for us as a packer.

TI: So it sounds like she remarried someone else.

EY: I'm sure she has, because... but I met her only one time, downtown Tacoma. One day I was walking downtown, and somebody dashed out of the entryway to something, and it was Grace. But that was that one time only.

TI: Now, Eiichi, you're ninety-one years old? How old are you now?

EY: Ninety-one.

TI: Ninety-one. Now, are you still involved with the oyster business?

EY: Well, nobody allows me to be involved with oysters, but when I go and walk the beach and see something like that scene, you know, I want to get involved.

TI: How about the family? Do you have any family members still involved?

EY: Yeah, the family, we lease the property out to Taylor's. My daughter's doing most of it, she keeps track of things and keep in touch with the Taylors.

TI: And so how many children do you have?

EY: [Asks wife] How many do I have?

TI: [Laughs] Four.

EY: Four. [Laughs]

TI: Okay. So the oyster farming, the family business continues on, that's good.

EY: Yeah.

TI: So I'm going to ask Yoko, is there anything else I should ask him? Any other questions? I think we covered quite a bit. So, Eiichi, is there anything else you want to say?

EY: Hmm?

TI: Is there anything else that you want to talk about? This was a really good interview.

EY: Gosh, I can't think of anything.

TI: Yeah, I think this was a pretty fabulous interview.

EY: Well, you know, I wish, I wish I was a little bit older, I wish my father got married a little bit sooner, that I were in a position to help my father in business. Because I can see now and I can remember what my mother used to say, always finding that he was too busy to help my mom. And really the reason for my father being, not being so very, very successful, was he needed another hand. And not to say that I'm a good hand, but a family member sometimes is very helpful. And I think in so doing, I could have made my mother's life a little bit easier, make my father's life a little bit easier, and perhaps not being involved in the real heavy oyster business, probably my brother would still be alive today.

TI: Well, thank you. Thank you so much for the interview.

(Narr. note: The oyster growers had more than one problem. The sulfite liqueur from the pulp mill was one. It killed the Olympia oyster larvae during the spawning season. Those that survived were stunted and did not fatten. The Department of Fisheries in their annual drill inspection trip to Japan sought out the Kumamoto oyster as substitute oysters for Olympias. But initially it did not succeed because it was a larger oyster but years later, today, it is gaining acceptance in the marketplace. The Olympias have yet to regain their prominence.

As the years go by, the market will decide which oyster will fade and which will survive, and we as growers will have the opportunity to determine where to grow what. And that has been the job of the marketplace, to choose the product. Little by little we are finding oysters that fit the needs of the current market.)

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 2014 Densho. All Rights Reserved.