<Begin Segment 8>

BY: So after you got out of the army, where did you go?

DY: Back to Bethesda, I worked construction with my dad's company.

BY: So your parents were still there.

DY: Right.

BY: And how long did you do that for?

DY: Probably eight years.

BY: Okay, so a bit. And what did Karen do during that time?

DY: She went to school and set up a vocational rehab agency. She was trained as a rehab counselor.

BY: And she set up her own company?

DY: Right, eventually.

BY: And did you have kids?

DY: Yeah.

BY: Can you tell me their names and when they were born?

DY: Kay, who was named after my grandfather. So she was born in 1970. And Charlotte, I think that was four years later, and Douglas was born a year after that.

BY: Okay, so you have three kids. And so you were working in construction and your wife was a vocational counselor, and did you continue to work as a contractor?

DY: Well, Reagan with his Star Wars project messed up the economy, so we closed up the company. Father retired and I went to be an auto mechanic. Yes, I had no idea how to be an auto mechanic, just that I maintained van and trucks and experienced. So I started from scratch.

BY: And did you continue to do that?

DY: Yes. And one day, my wife came home, said that she had to hire an office manager to do the paperwork, but she couldn't do the paperwork and do her work at the same time. And I said, "Well, I can do your office management. It will cost you more to pay an office manager than I'm getting as a mechanic." So we did that. About three months later she said, "Well, are you happy, what you're doing?" And I said, "Nobody ever asked me that I was happy with my job." I said, "Let me think about that." And so a couple days later, I said, "Well, I've got an answer for if I'm happy as an office manager." Says, "Yeah, what's your answer?" "Well, it sure beats setting yourself on fire with gasoline for a living." And that's what auto mechanics do every moment of the day, with somebody next to you, you make a mistake, and all of a sudden you're... used to say suddenly you're a Buddhist monk, but people don't remember that they're setting themselves on fire with gasoline for a protest. But I don't say that anymore.

BY: So then you became the office manager?

DY: Right.

BY: And how long did you do that for?

DY: 'Til I had the stroke.

BY: Oh, okay. So when was that?

DY: That's twenty years ago.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.