<Begin Segment 18>

TI: You know, when you were at Poston, after about a year, your father was released, I guess, from Santa Fe, and he joined the family at Poston?

FD: Uh-huh.

TI: Do you remember what that was like, then, when he returned?

FD: No, I don't remember. It seemed to me that he just came home and just was home momentarily and then he was suddenly off on, off doing whatever he did, that is, ministering to people and going off to church. And, oh, during his absence, some of the people, I guess from Riverside, had built a desk for him to use whenever he came to us.

TI: And so people in Riverside built a desk and they sent it to Poston?

FD: No. In camp they scrounged around for scrap lumber.

TI: Okay, so expecting his return.

FD: Yeah, expecting his return, they built a nice desk for him, which I thought was very thoughtful. And they did it by... well, I'm not sure whether they got the lumber legitimately or whether they stole it.

TI: Or scrap lumber.

FD: Yeah. And then they needed nails, too.

TI: Well, during that brief time when your father was more home, what was that like for you to have your father back?

FD: Well, I guess it was nice, but I don't remember much about it because he was gone so much of the time.

TI: And what kept him so busy? You said so right away he was doing his ministering, what was that, what was he doing?

FD: Well, he was helping to organize a church for the Issei population, the Japanese immigrant population.

TI: Because at that point there wasn't a Christian church for the Isseis?

FD: Well, there probably was, but then they probably needed help, so he did whatever he could to help.

TI: Okay, so right away he got really busy then.

FD: Yeah, right away he just went off as if he had gone to work.

TI: And how about your mother? Did she have a job?

FD: Yeah, because she worked in the kitchen. Yeah, she worked in the kitchen. I'm not sure what she did in the kitchen, but then she said she can't just sit around doing nothing all day.

TI: Okay.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright © 2016 Densho. All Rights Reserved.