Densho Digital Repository - Takae Tanino Walts Interview (Densho ID: ddr-densho-1000-508-24)

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TI: And you talked about also you got special tutoring for your Japanese. So what else happened when you were a stewardess with Pan Am? I guess the story of how you met your husband. So how did you meet your husband?

TW: Okay. Well, they first hired the Nisei, Japanese stewardesses, to fly from Honolulu to San Francisco, Honolulu to Tokyo. That was our route, naturally, because Japanese people taking the plane there to the U.S. But then I was a union member. They based us at Honolulu, the Nisei girls. But being union members, we can transfer out to other stations. And I transferred to San Francisco because I got to go to more places. After about a year and a half in Honolulu, I transferred to San Francisco base, now I was able to fly to New Zealand, Australia, London, Paris, a whole lot more. So I enjoyed that for another year and a half and then I retired. When did I retire? Anyhow, I retired after about a year and a half flying out of San Francisco, and got married in '58.

TI: Well, so explain how you met your husband?

TW: Oh, okay. Well, it was on a Boeing Stratocruiser, December 20, 1955.

TI: [Laughs] Do you remember the flight number?

TW: Just about. Well, anyhow, Fred Walts was captain, he had come back to chat to some passengers, and he'd come back to meet the flight crew and the cabin crew. And he says, "What's your name?" And I said, "My name's Takae Tanino." And he says, "What does it mean?" I said, "It means 'expensive.'" [Laughs]

TI: And what was his reaction when you told him that?

TW: Well, we got married, so I guess he didn't think I was.

TI: That's funny. So "takai" is, yeah, the Japanese term for "high" or "expensive."

TW: But he wasn't sure about me. So then he had a friend in Yokohama, Caucasian friend, and he asked... but he was married to a Japanese girl, Naoko was her name. And so he had her ask Naoko, "What does it mean?" And she said, "It means 'expensive.'" [Laughs]

TI: Oh, so he was interested in you.

TW: (Yes).

TI: So you met him in 1955, married in 1958, you said after you retired from Pan Am? You said you retired from...

TW: Yes, after.

TI: And so after Pan Am, what did you do?

TW: Well, after we got married? Okay, I had my two daughters.

TI: And what are your daughters' names?

TW: It's Melody. Her last name is Jackson now, married to Randy Jackson. And my other daughter, Mary, is married to David Brinkhurst. They live in Santa Rosa, my older daughter Melody lives in Mesa, Arizona.

TI: Okay. So you had two children, and where did you live when you were raising your two daughters?

TW: Well, for a while there we lived in Novato, and then we bought a home in Sebastopol, which is out in the country. So I think we lived there in Sebastopol in that home for about thirty-seven years.

TI: And during this time period, did your husband continue to be a pilot?

TW: Yes. He commuted to San Francisco.

TI: And I have in my notes that you actually honored your father's request and that you went back into nursing?

TW: Yes, I did. After my daughters were in school, six and eight, I went back to nursing. I was a school nurse for the Cotati-Rohnert Park School District in California. I retired after sixteen years, I retired in 1988 from school nursing.