<Begin Segment 6>

TI: Yeah, so moving from Chula Vista, where did your father get assigned next?

FD: Oh, he was assigned to Riverside.

TI: Do you recall about how old you were when you moved to Riverside?

FD: I was in the sixth grade, so that would have made me about eleven, I think.

TI: And how was it for you? Because you developed these friendships in school, and then it seemed like every few years you have to move. How was that for you?

FD: Well, I managed somehow. It didn't bother me so much. That is, in grade school, I used to... I had a lot of friends because we had been in Chula Vista for more than just a couple years. And I used to be elected some sort of class office every year. Curiously never president, but then I was often vice president or secretary or treasurer or something like that.

TI: What was the student body like? How many, like, Japanese were your class?

FD: Oh, very few. I remember only one girl and maybe a couple boys whose names I don't remember.

TI: And was that the same in, like, San Diego?

FD: Well, I don't remember much about the San Diego school.

TI: And then going to Riverside?

FD: And then Riverside, well, I kept getting elected -- I don't know why, because I'm so shy most of the time, and yet I got chosen or elected to class offices in Riverside, too. And I was on the student council in eighth and ninth grade I think. And on speaking terms with the principal of the school. And when I think back, I think, oh my goodness, I wonder how I got acquainted with the principal. And then after we got sent to camp, he sent me my school diploma in his own handwriting, and I thought, "That was awfully nice of him."

TI: So this would be a diploma for middle school that he sent to you?

FD: Yes, they called it junior high school then.

TI: Junior high school. And going back to why you might have been on the student council, things like that, back then, what were your grades like?

FD: Oh, excellent.

TI: So pretty much the top of the class?

FD: Yes.

TI: So maybe that's why? You were probably viewed as, at least in the school environment because of your grades, as perhaps a leader?

FD: Yeah, according to when we were sent to camp, the teachers or somebody gave me my school records, and I was so pleased to read that they considered me a happy... I forgot the description, but anyway, they said that I was leader. And I thought, oh, I didn't know that. [Laughs]

TI: I mean, can you recall anything at Riverside besides student council and maybe your grades that people singled you out for? I mean, is there anything else that you can think of in terms of, you know, were you like, a particular subject really good at, or anything like that?

FD: No, I think I was good at all my subjects.

TI: Now during this time did you ever help your other classmates, try to help them with their homework or understand things?

FD: Yes, but not very much except in camp I met a girl who was very friendly and nice to me, and she needed help with her homework and studies, so I used to help her. But I don't remember doing that in junior high.

TI: So going back to Riverside, who were your playmates? Who did you hang around with and play with?

FD: There was a set of twins, the Mizumoto twins, M-I-Z-U-M-O-T-O, Mary and Martha. And they lived about, oh, two blocks away from our house. And so I used to play with them a lot.

TI: Now, were these identical twins?

FD: No, they weren't identical, fraternal, I think.

TI: Yeah, it seemed like twins were more rare back then. Seems like there are more twins now, but I don't hear of too many twins. And what kind of activities would you do with twins?

FD: I don't know, sit around talking all the time. [Laughs] And once in a while we'd go to movies, but then we were so poor that we sort of hesitated to ask our parents for the dime or whatever it cost to go to a movie.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2016 Densho. All Rights Reserved.