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TI: So now that you're married, your mother-in-law leaves, what happens next? What do you?

SA: I decided that I'll go to school. So I registered at the University of Minnesota. After several months, we decided to start a family, so things changed.

TI: At the University of Minnesota, what classes were you taking?

SA: Home economic. I always enjoyed that.

TI: So you decided to start a family, and that's when you had a daughter.

SA: That's right.

TI: On January 22nd, I know that date because that's my birthday.

SA: Yeah.

TI: And so that was a big change for you.

SA: It was a big change in our life, yeah.

TI: And you told me that you got help, though, that it wasn't just you. Did your mother and sister, your mother and sister came to help you?

SA: Oh, they came after my baby was born, they wanted to see her, so they were in Wisconsin, so they took a train and came and visited me.

TI: So before we talk about Minneapolis, what were they doing in Wisconsin?

SA: Oh, my mother and father was working in a hotel. My mom got a job in a hotel, and my father was doing the garden, gardener work.

TI: And so your mother and sister come to Minneapolis, and they come to live with you?

SA: No, no, they just came for a visit.

TI: To come and see the baby.

SA: That's right, was the main purpose.

TI: And at this point, how old was Vicky?

SA: She was twelve.

TI: Okay, so interesting, she was about the same age that you were when Vicky was born, you were about twelve.

SA: Yeah, that's right.

TI: So it's interesting that your baby, or daughter, Vicky, was the same age that you were, interesting. So then what happened next? You had Donna, and then what happens?

SA: Then it was time for us, for the school, the MIS school, moving to Presidio in Monterey, so we all had to pack up and we drove all the way from Minneapolis.

TI: So this was after the war?

SA: After the war, yeah.

TI: And how was it for you when you heard about the ending of the war, especially the way it ended, with the atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, what were your thoughts when the war was over?

SA: Oh, we thought it was just horrible. And George would come home and tell me what he heard, and oh, it was just devastating.

TI: Did you have any relatives who were affected?

SA: No, no one.

TI: How about George?

SA: No, he didn't have any direct family.

TI: Okay, but now you get to go back to the West Coast. I know Minneapolis was good to you, but it was pretty cold during the winter.

SA: Very, very harsh.

TI: And so the MIS school moved to Monterey, so that's not too far away from where George's farm was.

SA: George was growing up in Guadalupe, Santa Maria.

TI: So that's what, about two hours away?

SA: Yeah, I believe so.

TI: And so what was it like, where did you live?

SA: Oh, there was a living quarters at a place called Fort Ord, where many of the servicemen's families would live. It was a nice apartment, two-story, and it was, I'm thinking, about five rooms. It was very comfortable, and we lived there while George drove to the Presidio every day.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright (c) 2017 Densho. All Rights Reserved.