<Begin Segment 12>

NW: So after Frank comes back from Japan, after you graduate from Syracuse, at what point do you get married? What happens next?

MW: When he came back, we were married. And then he got the GI Bill and we went to New Haven, Connecticut, where he went to Yale Divinity School.

NW: So what did you do in New Haven?

MW: I was a public health nurse, and I was both a visiting nurse, and I worked under two hats in the Department of Health. So I can remember those cold winter snowy days where I waited for the bus to go and visit people in their homes, and I would check, for the Department of Health, I would be concerned about immunization and things like that, but I would also teach them about prenatal care and postnatal care. And I would teach them how to bathe babies, you know, when they come home from the hospital. Then I even taught some classes about having babies, having never had one. [Laughs] So that was, I became more interested in that kind of teaching and prevention and things like that. So I did some graduate work later in what is now called Western Reserve, it was Case Western then, public health.

NW: And so what kind of communities were you working in? Who were the patients that you would be serving?

MW: Well, lots of them were kind of low income, not necessarily, but at that time, I didn't drive, so as I say, I took the bus from one place to another. I don't know whether the visiting nurse, I don't know if many places had visiting nurse associations anywhere, the VNA was part of teaching. So things changed so much now, I'm not sure how it... but then later I got into student health work, being a nurse in colleges, universities, which I enjoyed very much.

NW: So one thing that I was curious about, so after you leave Syracuse, you and your husband moved to New Haven. So I imagine as a young couple, you're looking for a place to live at this point, and this is still pretty fresh after World War II. So I'm curious what that experience was like for you. As a young Japanese American couple looking for a place to live...

MW: When we were in college, it's different. When you're in a college situation... not quite, but there would be like a whole house of all divinity students, and the woman was in the college community where she depended, probably, on the students, and there were married couples in this one building, a big house we just made into several apartments. So I remember we developed some very good friendships. We had a couple who wanted to go to be missionaries in India, they ended up in Africa. But I kept in touch with them all. And I was just thinking I know the husband died, but it's terrible how you kind of lose contact with people. And recently more and more I find my friends are gone. I just had a nursing classmate who died last year, and I used to go visit her in California. And so you get to my age, you start thinking, hmm, I wonder if they're still there. And I was thinking, I haven't been in touch with this person, I wonder if she's still there. I was thinking of doing that this year. But life gets so busy you just keep putting off things. But anyway, it was after, when I was looking for housing, I remember when you called about an ad, and then when you get there, they say, "Oh, it's just been rented." That happens all the time. I got sick and tired of that, so I say, "I'm a Japanese American and I have children." I just came right out.

NW: You would just say this initial...

MW: Yeah, I wasn't going to fool around going there and get the door slammed in my face. I just accepted the fact that there is prejudice. And then sometimes it was a challenge to say, "Look, get to know me, I'm just like you." But a lot of times people were curious. When you have somebody come to the door selling apples or something. And they use improper English and says, "Wow, you speak good," or something like that. Well, I hope so. But there are people who just need to get to know you and learn to accept that we're human beings.

NW: So you did eventually find a place. Did you stay in New Haven?

MW: Yeah, we lived in New Haven. We lived in many places in California, we lived in Columbus, Ohio. We lived in different parts of California, Bay Area and Los Angeles, Minnesota. And Columbus you were kindergarten, I think.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2018 Densho. All Rights Reserved.