<Begin Segment 16>

PW: Well, let's back up and let's meet LaVerne first. Okay. So tell me, how did you meet your future husband?

HS: Well, that's interesting, too, because I think he was already a minister in Stockton, Stockton Buddhist Church. And you don't go around dating people, because everybody would know what you're doing. And so if he had interest, he'd have to tell his parents or tell someone that he's interested in someone. But I guess he didn't show any real interest in anybody in particular. So it was like a blind date. Because then I was single and available. So there was a, like a go-between, kind of, nakodo, they called it go-between. And they're the ones who suggested it, and I think his parents wanted it to happen, to at least meet, and my parents agreed. They asked me first. Said, "Here's this minister. Do you want to try?" Because they were worried, because what if it turned out all right, and here I end up marrying a minister, which is a very different life from most people. So I said, "Well, I don't mind meeting him and going out." And so that's how we got started, and I guess we liked each other enough, so it happened.

PW: You were teaching then at Edison in Stockton?

HS: Yes.

PW: Were you just commuting every day to go from your parents' home before you got married?

HS: Let's see now. I don't think I was commuting from Sacramento, was I? Funny, I'd have to think about that. At this point, I can't even figure it out.

PW: It was a short time, though, I understand.

HS: It was a short time, it was a short time, yes.

PW: Okay. So back up even more and tell me, so what is the name of your husband, and tell me a little bit about him from back then. So you learned through the families that there's a man who was interested in you. What was his name?

HS: Well, it's actually, he chose that name, LaVerne. But his real name on the birth certificate is Senyo Sasaki, and it's S-E-N-Y-O, it said 'W' on it, but he didn't want the W on it, so it's S-E-N-Y-O Sasaki, and he chose the name LaVerne. And I do not recall why he wanted to choose the word LaVerne, but that's his name, LaVerne Senyo Sasaki. And he was born on March 5, 1930. So he's almost eight years older than me.

PW: And he was born in California?

HS: He was born in... he was also born in Stockton, California, by the same midwife. His parents were, his father was a minister in Stockton Buddhist Church when he was born. So the same midwife that delivered me delivered LaVerne.

PW: And so when you were first introduced to each other, do you have any memory of meeting him and that whole first encounters? Because it was kind of a baishakunin arrangement?

HS: Yes, it was like a baishakunin arrangement, right. No, I can't remember where we went. If I could remember where we went, that would help. But I remember once, early on, that we went to San Francisco early on. And so, because I remember being in a car. And I think it was at that time he says, "Do you think?" By that time, I think that he liked me and I was fine with him, so he said, "Do you think we can make a go out of it?" "Go out of it," or something like that, something to that effect. And I guess I said maybe so, maybe yes. So it happened fairly early on.

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.