<Begin Segment 13>

[Ed. note: This transcript has been edited by the narrator]

VY: So did you move to San Jose?

YY: What was that?

VY: Did you move to San Jose to finish college?

YY: (...) This was in the summer, and so in September, I started.

VY: And what did you study?

YY: Occupational therapy, and so I got in as a junior.

VY: Why did you choose occupational therapy? What attracted you to it?

YY: Well, I knew I didn't want to be a teacher, you know, to stand in front of a class and just speak. But I enjoyed working one-to-one. And some of the things you do, thinking of ways to help them, the patient, then appealed to me, and you have to think of your own way. So I didn't really know because I never saw anyone work that way, but I just went with it until I graduated, and (after spending) nine months of clinical affiliation with various kinds of disabilities, then I really found (the work to be challenging and rewarding).

VY: Well, talk about that, what was that like when you did your clinical studies in the field? Where did you go?

YY: When I went to...

VY: When you, like what was your first job?

YY: Oh, first job? Well, one pediatric affiliation I had was with disturbed children. And so it just so happened they asked me to come back and work there during the summer. So I said, okay, (I can work) during the summer (...) until I (leave for) Japan with my mother because that was already planned. And so that's what I did. [Narr. note: There are four areas of disabilities we are trained in psychiatry, pediatrics, physical disabilities and general medical and surgical hospital patients.]

VY: And where was that?

YY: (Philo is in northern California, between Cloverdale and Ft. Bragg. From Philo, you can drive or walk one mile to the ranch. It was an ideal setting for children who needed time to calm down and learn to control their impulses. Activities included scheduled chores. If they were feeling stress, they were able to visit the animals they care for or sitting by the calming water of the creek. Diagnoses for the children included autism, blind, deaf, schizophrenia, and acting out behavior in children.)

VY: It sounds nice. You said it was a ranch, did it have a name?

YY: What was it?

VY: What was the name of the ranch?

YY: Clearwater Ranch, and it was a small little (town) called Philo, California.

VY: And who ran the ranch?

YY: Hmm?

VY: Who ran the ranch, the program there? Who was in charge?

YY: Oh, Susan Richards was the director, and she's the one who (founded this treatment center). And she has a very interesting background, (...) it was after World War I (when she graduated from college) that she was in the Near East around, I guess, they used to call it Persia, (now Iran). And her father was a missionary, and so she was with her mother and father and therefore she learned the language, knew the people, and after graduating from college, she saw an ad for someone who could take these, I forget how many children, like fifty or a hundred children, who were orphaned because their parents were killed during this time. She took them by foot back to their village. And so she had this interest in children and their background, and that's how she got into this Clearwater Ranch program.

VY: Interesting. So she took what she learned and she created this environment for these kids that you then came to this environment and worked with the kids, and it sounds like she liked your work. So how long were you there?

YY: You know, when I came back from Japan, I was going to look for a new job because I had taken my exam and finished my clinical. But there was a notice from her saying if I don't have a job yet, would I come and help them for a while, so I did. I thought it was just for the summer or just for the winter, but I stayed about three years.

VY: Three years? Was it hard to leave?

YY: What was it?

VY: Was it hard to leave?

YY: It was hard because of her. She didn't want me to leave, and I felt bad, but I knew it was time to have some other kind of experience. But in order to leave, I felt I had to go very far. [Laughs]

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 2021 Densho. All Rights Reserved.