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TI: And so when you decided to leave the first family, then where did you go?

TT: Then my sister was a member of the Baptist church there, and some of the people had talked to her. And she found a family, it was just a man and a wife that wanted somebody just as a daughter just to come and live with them. So she told them about me and that I was going to be a senior, was that okay? And they said yes, they would love to have me there. And so I moved over there. And I was supposed to just help her, but the father was really nice, and he would get mad at her when I had to do more work than she was doing. She says, "You don't have to do all that," she says she can do that, "and she could help you." [Laughs]

TI: So it was a very different experience from the first family to the second family.

TT: It was.

TI: So that gave you more time.

TT: It gave me more time. And whenever they went anywhere, they wanted to take me with them. They'd go on vacation, they'd want to take me along, and I said, "No," I said, "I'd rather stay here." And I'd see my sister, because it would be our day off, and we'd do that.

TI: What kind of vacations would they go on? Where would they go?

TT: Maybe to another city or to a park or something like that. But they always wanted to include me.

TI: So was it kind of treating you almost like a daughter?

TT: Yah. And they were the ones that offered me a... I was a senior, he said, "Well, you're doing good in school." He said, "I want you to go to college." And I said, "No, I'm just anxious to get out of school." Says, "No," he says, "I'm going to send you through four years of college, you could stay here, there's nothing attached to it, and we'll give you allowance," and everything. I said, "No," I said, "I'm just anxious to get out of school."

TI: When you take a step back and think about that, that was an incredibly generous offer.

TT: Oh, yes.

TI: To pay for your college education...

TT: Give me my room and board.

TI: ...room and board, pay you an allowance. I think most people would jump at that opportunity.

TT: Oh, I know it.

TI: So it was just because you were tired of school?

TT: Yah. Because I didn't like to study, really. I liked what I knew and wanted to do, but I didn't want to feel like I had to go school to learn more.

TI: So what would you tell one of your grandchildren if someone offered them a full scholarship, room and board, plus a stipend?

TT: Take it. [Laughs]

TI: But why? What if they say, "Grandma, I don't like school?" What would you tell them?

TT: [Laughs] I don't know, I didn't get through that.

[Interruption]

TI: But going back to this offer given to you, any regrets?

TT: No. Because I loved to work, and every job I had, I'd work until I'd find more work to do. I'd do clerical work, I'd do... the first job was with AP Parts, it was a parts company that had... and I'd do the billing. And then I had taken secretarial work, so then I became a secretary too.

TI: But don't you think that the, a college degree, especially back during this time would have opened other doors for you that could have... yeah, I mean, enhanced your work experience? I'm not saying that you don't want to work, I get that you liked the work...

TT: I liked to work, learning things in the office and doing one thing after another.

TI: But you're very smart, you're very...

TT: Forward.

TI: ...forward, and that paired with a college education, do you ever think, oh, I wonder what it would have been like?

TT: No, I just enjoyed doing all the jobs in the office.

TI: You didn't want to run businesses?

TT: Well, I was becoming the manager of the offices I worked in, and people would come to me to find out about things. And even when I got into the brokerage business, a lot of things that happened then happened a long time ago. So they'd always, other people would say, "Go ask Tak, she's the only one that knows anything about the..."

TI: Well, let me ask you this question: did not having a college education ever, did you ever feel limited?

TT: No.

TI: So it never mattered is what you're saying.

TT: No. Because I was so aggressive and nosy. And then I had the secretarial background. So when this one smaller brokerage firm needed somebody, they asked around and they said, "Oh, you should get Tak, because she knows everything about the internal business about it, and she's also a secretary." So I went to John R. Lewis, it was a smaller company, and I went there as a secretary first. But anytime they had any kind of problems with the office, then they'd come to me about it.

TI: Okay.

TT: And then he said, "If you come to work for me, I'm going into that Seafirst building, we're going to have an office on the fortieth floor, you'll have an office overlooking the south end." And then on top of that...

TI: So Mt. Rainier, you could see Mt. Rainier?

TT: Oh, I saw everything. And the Kingdome was trying to go up at that time. But I used to be there, and I'd be there early in the morning, and I'd do anything and everything there. And then I became his secretary, and then his wife needed help, so then I'd help Mrs. Lewis with any problems that she had.

TI: Okay, but let's go back to Toledo. And when you turned down this offer of a college scholarship, what was the reaction of the couple?

TT: Oh, they said, "Nobody would refuse a job for four years of college of room and board." I says, "I know, but," I says, "I don't like to study and I'm happy doing what I'm doing." And I said, "I like to go to work and solve problems at work. I'm satisfied with my life." My mother had a fit.

TI: Yeah, I was going to ask, so your mother, what did she...

TT: Oh, she said, "Bakatare da ne," nobody would refuse that, because they knew that otherwise I wouldn't be able to go to college.

TI: How about your sisters? Did they understand your decision?

TT: Well, they just kind of left me alone. Because my sister went to business school, and the other one just worked in offices. But I said, "I'm happy doing..." and I was nosy enough in all the jobs that I did that I wanted to learn more about what was going on.

TI: So when you started work in Toledo, did you stay, did you continue living with this couple?

TT: Yah, until I left. I worked for Willys-Overland, the jeep company, I was a secretary there. But he would only give me about six letters a day, and I'd be through by noon. And I said, "Okay, give me something else to do." He says, "Well, I don't have anything else." He says, "Don't you have letters to write to your friends in the internment camp?" I said, "I write to them right away, and they say I write too fast." [Laughs] So then I finally quit there.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright © 2015 Densho. All Rights Reserved.