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BN: In retirement, what have you done and have you continued... I see pictures of you speaking in classes.
RO: Yeah, that's basically what I've been doing. When I retired, the first thing I did was spend a year on the (Orange County Grand Jury).
BN: I mean, you have your memoirs, we could add these things in the transcript later.
RO: Anyway, it was looking at the operations of the county, and I've always had a negative view of people who work for counties or cities or whatever. So it was a learning experience for me. And so we were looking at how well they were doing, they were functioning. That was one of our assignments. And I learned, the people at the top were pretty smart. And as you go down, they're not so smart, they're not working as effectively as I thought they could. So that was the first year, and then I've been a member of this group of older people at the local university. And we have connections with students there, so that's why I give the talks. But mostly we have our own classes. So, for example, I started singing, which was terrific, it's an area that I really didn't have a lot of experience with, but I did that. And I was actually singing solos. When I started writing the book, I had to stop that, because it was just taking too much time.
BN: What kind of singing were you doing? What kind of songs?
RO: You want to see what the songs were? They were mostly popular songs.
BN: Of your era?
RO: I'm sorry?
BN: Kind of from your...
RO: From our era, right.
BN: And then when you talk to schools, what are you talking about?
RO: Principally it has been stories of my life.
BN: Is this stuff about camp, or is it more about your professional...
RO: Probably more professional stuff. It depends who you're talking to.
BN: Have you told your... well, you wrote the book, I guess. I was going to ask if you told your own kids about Manzanar and camp and so on.
RO: Oh, yeah, for sure. Yeah, I'm a different generation from the people, the older people who just (didn't) want to talk about it. I didn't feel, I'm not embarrassed by having been there, it's not like my fault. I didn't do anything wrong.
BN: Right, you learned from it and you did well and took lessons. And then just to go back, what happened to your parents after the war? I mean, when we last left, they were still working. Did they end up staying in California?
RO: Yeah. My dad died pretty young, I think he was in his fifties when he died. And my mother lived until she was in her nineties, so fortunately, I think I've gotten more from her than from my dad.
BN: Did she live by herself the whole time?
RO: After he died, yeah.
BN: So she was able to take care of herself.
RO: Yeah. Well, she eventually... well, she lived with my sister for a year or two, and then she went into one of these places for older people. And for her it was terrific.
BN: So she was still alive when you came back to California.
RO: Yeah. So anyway, where are we?
BN: Yeah, no, I'm... that's most of what I wanted to cover.
RO: Oh, good.
BN: I always ask, kind of end by asking if there's any last thoughts you have or anything you want to leave, knowing that this is something that will live beyond you and seen by a lot of younger people, if there's anything in particular you want to convey about your, things you've learned through your life, particularly as it pertains to Manzanar since that's kind of our area, but just in general?
RO: Well, I don't consider myself competent to be telling people what to do with their lives, I'm sorry. [Laughs] I mean, one of the reasons I wrote the book is because I wanted to get out that you can do it if you put your mind to it. But I don't know, I don't consider myself to be all that wise. So I don't know if I have anything to pass on to the children. Sorry.
BN: No, no. I think there's a lot in there that we can learn from. So, yeah, thank you very much, I learned some new things.
RO: Oh, good, good. It'd be boring otherwise. [Laughs]
BN: So good, thank you.
<End Segment 24> - Copyright © 2021 Densho. All Rights Reserved.