<Begin Segment 11>

BN: And then, did you graduate?

EO: Hmm?

BN: Did you graduate from Doane?

EO: No, I got married. [Laughs]

BN: How did you meet your husband?

EO: Well, University of Nebraska opened up to the Niseis, and he's one of the first Niseis that went to Nebraska, too. All the people who were in college tried, I think. And then he went off to Syracuse, Syracuse school of law. And I only met him casually, but I'd get these little presents with no name on it. And then finally he reveals his identity, and he wanted to come visit me. So he came and visited me and he started courting me. [Laughs]

BN: And what was his name?

EO: Oh, Francis Uyematsu. And my mother kept pushing me, pushing me, "Marry him, marry him." [Laughs] Because in the old days, before the war, when my dad used to do the routes of the farms in the San Gabriel Valley, they had a nursery in Sierra Madre, 7 acres. And they had a foreman who lived in a little white house, and my dad would go up there and take over food orders, so they delivered every week.

KU: Can I ask a question about your English major?

EO: Yeah.

KU: Why did you choose English, and did you have some career goals in mind at the time you were studying?

EO: Not at all. I didn't have any career goals, because I knew I'd be getting married, at least in those days. We weren't thinking about careers then. Well, maybe you, but not me.

BN: So your parents were very approving of your getting married.

EO: Oh, my mother wanted me to marry.

BN: Right. And did you get married in Nebraska?

EO: No. He proposed and we waited until we moved out here. We both moved out here first.

BN: Wait, but did he then go to...

EO: What?

BN: Did he then go to Minnesota?

EO: Oh, what happened was, I think he proposed because he was going to be drafted, or he was drafted. So he moved, he left law school, and we both... I can't exactly remember, but we both went to Pasadena, California. They made a big fuss when we were the first Japanese there in Pasadena since the war started. So I was getting a marriage license, so they took pictures. Anyway, we got a license, and then we had a small wedding at the Congregational church there in Sierra Madre. And we moved into what used to be the foreman's bungalow, we moved to that place.

BN: What was your wedding date?

EO: Date? May 14, 1945, I think.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 2018 Densho. All Rights Reserved.