<Begin Segment 17>

BY: Mary, so what did you do when you were in Walla Walla?

MK: When Mr. Shinbo had the restaurant and they put curfew on, then he couldn't run his restaurant anymore, so he had to sell that cheap. And so he got a job at Whitman College as a cook for the Lyman House, a men's dorm. And so he, Mr. Shinbo, got me a job as a kitchen aid, kitchen helper. So what I did was peel potatoes or wash vegetables, wash pots and pans, you know. And so with his help, I got Whitman College's kitchen help. [Laughs] And like Whiteman was suffering, too, you know, because everybody was in the service or working at the defense job. So anyhow, we all suffered a lot. And so I don't know how long I worked at Lyman House. Then finally, somehow, a lady was the head dietician, and so we were... anyway, I decided to go to business college. And they had Walla Walla Business College downtown, which is long gone now. So I went to business college for a while and finally got a job in a dietician's office. And anyhow, I got a job in the office there, which is secluded from the kitchen area. Anyhow, I enjoyed that for quite a few years, and then it was Mrs. Borgans, she used to be a retired schoolteacher. And there was another lady there, Mr. Craigie, who was a housekeeper, and her office was with us more or less. Then there was another lady that was the assistant dietician. Anyway, it was a tiny, tiny office, but did all the kitchen work in the campus there. So I was there for, until 1978, I guess. But I was there at Whitman College a long time.

BY: So what was it like living in Walla Walla right after the war?

MK: Well, it was enjoyable. It's such a different life, you know. It wasn't bad.

BY: How about for you, Frances, what was it like living in Walla Walla?

MK: I forgot all the details now, but to get to work, there used to be a bus that went from the state line, because College Place in Walla Walla was close to the state line. And every day they go back and forth, every hour, you know. So I'd take that bus, walk to the bus from Brickners' house, and walk from down Second Avenue and up to Whitman College. So I got my exercise daily. [Laughs]

BY: Frances, what was it like living in Walla Walla at that time?

FN: Well, growing up in College Place..

BY: I guess College Place, yeah, okay.

FN: And then going to school in Walla Walla High School, since I wasn't as intimidated as my sister was, so I was not shy, so I would talk to anybody and make friends with everybody and so life was good for me. And I would try all kinds of things, you know, and talk to people, even strangers.

BY: Did you ever experience any, like, anti-Japanese, people calling you names or anything like that, that happened to you in Walla Walla?

FN: It didn't happen to me at all. But I know that my brother-in-law's brother, James, was, when he was going to high school --

MK: No, not really directly.

BY: Frances, so go ahead. You were telling a story.

FN: Oh, I was just saying that when James went to high school, I remember him going to a restaurant in Walla Walla with his high school friends. And the waitress ignored him, and so she took orders from all the rest of the boys but not him. And finally they figured out what was going on, so the whole group got up and left. And that was really nice of them because he was the only minority, too, at that time.

BY: And that was James Shinbo, then?

FN: No, James Kato.

BY: Oh, okay. So Mary's...

FN: Mary's brother-in-law.

BY: I see, okay.

<End Segment 17> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.