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TI: Well, and you were the valedictorian of this high school in 1966. Were there very many Japanese classmates of yours?

FS: Just one in my class. And there were a few older and younger, but let's say, four classes, there might be maybe five Japanese Americans in the whole high school. And so the community used to have maybe two to three hundred Japanese living in that community, maybe fifty families or so, permanently, residents. And then during the summertime, a lot of workers came from Sacramento, Japanese, to work on the farms, and so the population would get a lot bigger for a few months. But after the war, I think it dwindled from like fifty families to maybe eight or ten, and many of those left as soon as they could find jobs in Sacramento or some other places, because they were just working on farms. So the community basically was decimated. I mean, I didn't really understand that when I was a kid, I just always assumed that this was about the number of people. But when I went to Japanese school, I should have wondered, gee, how could eight or ten families afford to have a building like this?

TI: That's true, because you grew up with this big building.

FS: Yeah, it's like of like, after the light bulb goes on, all of a sudden you realize that you're walking by a big clue, but you never even asked yourself that question.

TI: Now I'm curious, has there ever been any, I guess, what's the right word? Pressure is probably not the word, but encouragement for you to return to Winters, as kind of one of the sons of Winters, that dwindling community? Because I'm guessing the community's saying, all our young people are leaving the farms, leaving the area.

FS: Almost everybody did leave except a good friend of mine, Dennis Hiramatsu, became a dentist and practiced in Winters. But you're talking about, when I was growing up, is that Winters has this event called Youth Day, it's a day in the spring when the students elect, like a mayor and city councilman, and they kind of, on an honorary basis, they kind of take over the city and they have a big parade and everything. And it's been going on since like 1932 or something. And even though there were just very few Japanese Americans going to school, one of my older brother's friends, Don Dote, he was elected Youth Day mayor in 1964, and then I was elected Youth Day mayor in 1966. And I think two years later, Mervyn Kato's (brother, Staneley Kato), was elected mayor. So I think attitudes have changed, because that would never happen. I mean, even when the community had two hundred people and fifty families, they never got elected Youth Day mayor. So if any of my classmates are watching this, I had a good experience in Winters. But that reminds me of this autobiography that I wrote when I was ten or twelve years old, like in the seventh or eighth grade. Because I just couldn't believe when I found it a couple weeks ago. I mean, when you're in eighth grade, you haven't lived long enough to have an autobiography, right? [Laughs] But I got an A-minus, or I got an A on it. And I wrote about, "I was born on March 13, 1948," and that was my aunt's birthday, and her name was Florice Kuwahara, that was my mom's older sister. And like those Livingston people, we always felt like they were a little bit richer and wealthier, they had a nice car and everything. So when my mom's time got near, especially since there was a history of problems at childbirth, my aunt came down in her nice car and was ready to whisk my mom to Sacramento to a hospital, not a midwife. And it just so happens that it was going to happen just on her birthday. So they were waiting the last few days and they said, "We're going to name this baby Floyd, or Florice."

TI: After your mom's sister.

FS: Yeah. Because my brother was already a boy, so they were hoping for a girl this time. But I fooled them, so I was a boy. So instead of Florice, they changed it to Floyd.

TI: And is this all in your autobiography when you were in eighth grade?

FS: Yeah, I read that in my autobiography and it reminded me of that. And it also reminded me that I really struggled in school. I didn't really learn to read until I was in the fourth or fifth grade. And then all of a sudden a light bulb went on, and I could start reading. And then instead of being in the slow group, I got into the fast reading group. So I talked about that in my autobiography, and now I think I had dyslexia or something like that, because my granddaughter had that. And she had real trouble kind of reading or doing math, because these are symbols and things get turned around. I don't know if you know dyslexia.

TI: Yeah, my daughter is dyslexic.

FS: Yeah. So it doesn't have anything to do with how smart you are, but it's just that your mind, the circuitry of your brain or something kind of twists these symbols around. And I think that, in time, it's possible for your mind to make an adjustment and workarounds, so then it starts to work. But I talked about that in my autobiography, and then I also talked about how I sold a bunch of magazines and I won this contest, and then that built my confidence up. So I even ran for public office, I ran for president of the grammar school I was in. And I had a little campaign strategy, this was stuff that I had totally forgotten, like there were five candidates for president, and then for all these different offices. But I made a deal with the most popular girl in my class, because she was running for secretary, and I made her my campaign manager, and then I supported her for her thing.

TI: So you had a little ticket going on. [Laughs]

FS: And then on election day, I had little cards made up with my name on it, "Vote for Floyd," and then my campaign manager came up with a slogan, and she said, "You'll never be annoyed if you vote for Floyd." And we both won. And so at the end of it I said -- oh, and the other thing is that I got my award for the magazine right at the assembly just before they voted.

TI: So what award is this?

FS: I sold the most magazines.

TI: Oh, the most magazines.

FS: And that was like, if you're a candidate, the timing of it was just great. And at the end I said... I really felt like my confidence level was very high. And then it seems like not only stuff that I worked on helped me, but then other people helped me and other circumstances helped me that I had nothing to do with, I mean, I couldn't control it. And so I said basically the equivalent of, I just felt like I had good karma going. I didn't use those terms at that time. But then I ended it saying, "But maybe this is just the beginning of something else, even greater things."

TI: Well, that's what I was going to ask. So that something else, either an autobiography, or can you recall what that other thing would be? I mean, did you think about what you wanted to become?

FS: No, but based on that autobiography, I had this feeling like I was being prepared for something. Because it's one thing for the things that you can control and plan to do just to succeed, but when other things happen that you had no control over, and then people help you, like my campaign manager, maybe one of the teachers decided, "Well, let's give Floyd his award just before everybody votes." I mean, teachers can do stuff like that, right? They want to tip something. You start feeling like you're on a roll here. I wasn't a very religious person so I didn't feel like God was intervening or anything.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2019 Densho. All Rights Reserved.