<Begin Segment 9>

BN: Then I want to go back to the church. You mentioned, I think it was Evergreen Baptist.

RO: Evergreen Baptist.

BN: Did you have a connection with that church from before the war?

RO: No, that was the only one...

BN: That would take you?

RO: ...in the area for JAs.

BN: What kind of area did you actually live in, in the church?

RO: They had these little areas for each class, each class of kids, so we got one of those, it was very small. It was probably for, like, six or so kids who would get their, they would learn about Christ and all that on Sunday mornings.

BN: Then so your family of five, then, was in one of...

RO: It was one of those little places, yeah.

BN: So you'd all be sleeping in there.

RO: Right.

BN: So what about meals and...

RO: Yeah, I don't know how that happened. I mean, I don't know what my mom did, but we had food.

BN: Were there, like, other families also in that church?

RO: Uh-huh, I don't think there were very many, though. And we were only there for a few weeks.

BN: Do you remember who ran it? Was it a... I mean, if it's a Christian denomination, do you remember who was in charge?

RO: Yeah, I do. The funny thing about that is when we got married, we got married in Seattle and so we needed someone who could do it for us. So we saw this, the local person and he said, "Oh, sure, I can do it." And then he said something to the effect that he remembers me. But what was funny about that was he doesn't remember what a bad kid I was. [Laughs] Otherwise he might have said, "No, I'm not going to marry you."

BN: Is this a Japanese man?

RO: Yeah, he was very well-known at that time, I think, and then he moved up to Seattle, had a church there.

BN: And then did you, from when you were living in this church, did you then go to school? Because you're getting out, like in September or something.

RO: Yeah, I think I went to something like four or five different schools that year, because we moved from the church to my uncle's, and then we moved to the other side of the city and we came back. So it was... but then again, I was a kid, I didn't care.

BN: Kids can adjust quickly to things.

RO: Sure.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2021 Densho. All Rights Reserved.