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TI: So today is Thursday, February 26, 2015, and we're in the Densho offices. On camera is Dana Hoshide, and then I'm the interviewer, Tom Ikeda. And so, Kazie, I'm just going to start. Can you tell me when and where you were born?

KG: I was born in Sacramento, California, May 6, 1925.

TI: Okay, so that would make you, today, eighty-nine years old?

KG: I'm going to be ninety this year.

TI: Ninety, wow, that is amazing. I mean, you look really, really good. Now, when you were born, what was the full name given to you at birth?

KG: Kazue Kiyono.

TI: And how about, like were you ever given a middle name?

KG: Yeah. We lived in an area where there were no Japanese, and the only neighbors we had were Caucasians. And close friends, they couldn't pronounce Japanese names, so they gave everyone in the family an American name. And I was called May because I was born in May. And the only people who call me that is my family, because no one else was around, they were all Caucasians. So when my parents talked about me, they had to refer to me by the name that was, the Caucasians gave us, which was strange.

TI: Oh, so they would use May?

KG: Just my parents and my sister, yeah, my family. No one else called me...

TI: But how about your childhood friends? They would call you May or Kazie?

KG: Both, I guess. It depends upon how close they were to the family.

TI: But then once you got older...

KG: When I was in school, no, I went by "Kazie.".

TI: Okay, good. And then let's talk about your siblings, your brothers and sister. So you can you kind of give me the birth order of their...

KG: My oldest brother was born in November, and he passed away just recently, about two years ago. He was, I think, three years older than I, around there. [Laughs] It's been ages. And then the next one is, was born May 15th, a year (before) I was born.

TI: So a year (older).

KG: He would have been in ('24).

TI: And then...

KG: My sister is about nine years younger, she was born January 28th.

TI: And how about names? Your oldest brother?

KG: Is Kazuma, but he went by Charlie, because that was the name given to him by our neighbor. And the other one is, his name is Ishu, I-S-H-U, and the neighbors called him Buster, which I hated the name.

TI: And your sister?

KG: My sister is Kazuyo, and we called her Mary. My brother and I named her Mary, we wanted her to have an American name.

TI: And then your father, what was his name?

KG: Takaichi.

TI: And what part of Japan was he from?

KG: Well, he was in Wakayama.

TI: And just for our records, do you have a sense of when he came to the United States?

KG: Well, he came... first he went to Hawaii, and he didn't like it there, so he came to the States, and then he went back to get married and then came here. I don't know what year anymore.

TI: Okay. So he went back to get married, so that's where he met your mother?

KG: Yeah.

TI: And what's your mother's name?

KG: Itono.

TI: And where was she from?

KG: Same area.

TI: Okay, good. So six in your family.

<End Segment 1> - Copyright © 2015 Densho. All Rights Reserved.