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BY: Okay. Let's go back now and talk a little bit more about your mother. So what was her name?

CH: Kay Hata.

BY: Oh, right, you said that.

CH: Kesaye.

BY: Kesaye Hata, okay. And where and when was she born?

CH: So the records differ a bit, but she was born in Hood River, I think, Odell exactly, in 1916. Sometimes it's December 11th, sometimes it's December 12th.

BY: So she was quite a bit younger than your father then?

CH: Twelve years.

BY: Twelve years younger, okay. And did she grow up then in the Hood River Valley?

CH: Uh-huh.

BY: And tell me a little bit about her education and background. It sounds like she was a nurse, but can you talk about that a little?

CH: Well, she did go to Nihongakko in Hood River and she was active in the Christian church there. So we have some pictures, in fact, your dad sent me some pictures of the Christian church and all of the students, and she was one of them. And then after high school, because she was the oldest of eight that were still around on the farm, I guess when she was younger she was sickly, and so she spent a lot of time in the hospital. So all she ever wanted to do was be a nurse. And being the oldest of all of them, my grandfather took her to Nihonmachi in Portland and tried to find out, "How do I help my daughter become a nurse?" And she ended up going to Walla Walla, premed school. And then after a year, I think a year and half, she returned to Portland and was entered into the Seventh Day Adventist nursing school where she graduated in 1939.

BY: And you said that her mother died when she was sixteen, is that right? So it seems rather unusual that here she is the eldest daughter, and she has eight younger siblings, and yet her father was supportive in letting her go to a nursing school.

CH: I know, it's pretty miraculous, I think. I gave him so much credit because... but I guess that's all she ever wanted to do, so that's what she talked about, and he wanted to support her dream to do that. It's really commendable.

BY: Amazing. So do you know anything about who took care of the other eight kids then?

CH: I think the next daughter. [Laughs]

BY: The next daughter, oh, okay. All right, interesting. And so where was your mother during the war, or when Pearl Harbor happened? Do you know where she was?

CH: She was in Los Angeles. So she graduated from nursing school and then she went to L.A., I think, to meet up with my dad, because they had plans to get married.

BY: So how did they meet?

CH: In Walla Walla, in premed.

BY: Okay, so he had graduated from SC, and do you know why he was in Walla Walla?

CH: For premed.

BY: Oh, okay.

CH: That was the Seventh Day Adventist premed program. But after, I think, the first year -- I think she was only there a couple years -- but he decided he didn't like blood, so wasn't exactly going to be the right profession for him. So then he went back to Los Angeles and then was part of an internship at Weber Electric company in Los Angeles learning the latest technology called air conditioning.

BY: Interesting. So then he went back to L.A., she finished her education, and then went to L.A. And so they were both there when Pearl Harbor happened. But somehow it sounds like they were not together.

CH: So my mother, I'm not sure if she volunteered or she was recruited. Because she was an RN, she was sent to Mayer Assembly Center and then on to Poston to set up the hospital there in Poston.

BY: Okay. And so your father, was he, you think, either Santa Anita or Pomona, and then was able to get transferred to Poston?

CH: She said after a lot of letters, he was finally transferred.

BY: And then you said that they got married in Poston?

CH: They got married. He arrived, from her letters, in August, and they were married September 4th by Reverend Jitsuo Morikawa, who was the Reverend near Poston.

BY: Oh, that's a great story. Okay, do you have any siblings?

CH: No.

BY: Okay.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2023 Densho. All Rights Reserved.