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PW: Is there much of a Japanese American community here in Concord or Walnut Creek?

HS: Well, I started the practice because they wanted me back at... first they wanted me to stay, but I said no, I can't do that, because they wanted to kick the radiologist out, and I said no, I wouldn't do that. So I bought this practice in San Francisco and made a go of it. And then the one that replaced me was also a resident that I knew, and he said he's leaving, he wanted to go to Florida. So he says, "I'm gonna recommend," that I return. And of course it was easy, they all wanted me, so I came back. And a hospital is a gold mine, and most people don't know that. I didn't have to pay for the employees or the equipment, all I had to do was produce. So I did, and so that... over the years, I ended up with two Japanese, that's me and Carl, that is, I and Carl Muto was AOA, that means Honor Society in medical school, very difficult to get. He came and joined us, and I had two Chinese and two of Jewish faith. All of them were super students, one, when the Chinese came, they were the businesspeople, they came and changed... I had my name and two others on the name, of course, it was getting too many, it was not a law office, so they changed the name to Walnut Creek Radiology, and we turned into a corporation. But the Chinese guys, they were great entrepreneurs, immediately I was the liberal. Six weeks' vacation after five years, pension plan, off days, and on hospital plan and so forth. I provided all that. And as Warren Buffett said, well, Warren Buffett said they get paid more in percentage, I actually got paid more in... but anyway, I succeeded the two families, two Chinese.

Now, I'll tell you about the Chinese. What happened was that this guy appeared out of nowhere, of course, we advertised for a radiologist. His name was Bailey Lee from Greenville, Mississippi. And I knew he was... oh, the first white guy I'm going to get, came, he's Chinese from Greenville, first in his class. Tough guy. But anyway, the two Jewish guys were very good as you might imagine. Anyway, we had a super group. And when I (retired), they replaced me with a Korean American. We did okay.

PW: When did you retire?

HS: 1993, I was sixty-four, sixty-five. I knew I was going to retire at sixty-five. But then when I retired, I didn't have that much money for radiology, I had three hundred thousand dollars saved. Jean did the savings. Oh, in the meantime, we moved, Jean wanted to move because we were having four children, and I realized that I was not a very good person. So I said, "Okay, Jean, you go and buy a house, I don't care where, and you tell me how much it's going to cost. But after we decide that, I'm not going to have anything to do with it." She came, and it was a new development, paid sixty thousand dollars, bought these two parcels. So, okay, I'll put a tennis court on it. Anyway, she came, she bought, I never saw the house, she came and looked at the house every time it was being built. She knew how much, how it was paid and so forth. And I'm sure she felt good about it. So I was, what do they call the people who aren't very understanding? So she was pleased with what I did for a change. Anyway, so we moved here. We've been living here fifty years now.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 2019 Densho. All Rights Reserved.