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TI: Okay. So let's talk about that. How did you meet your husband?

SI: I met him at a Spokane Buddhist convention, and then later, I guess he brought somebody to the... five years later, he also brought somebody to the Tacoma convention. That's when, after that, I think he started asking me out and coming to see me, then I married him.

TI: So wait a second. So you first met him at the Spokane convention, and then five years later, Tacoma, Seattle area, you said he brought someone else, so there was another woman that he was there with? When you said he brought someone, who...

SI: He brought me.

TI: Oh, he brought you?

SI: Oh, no. I think some kids, some teenagers who wanted to go to the convention in Tacoma. He brought them because...

TI: Oh, he brought like a group of younger...

SI: A couple of girls that wanted to come. They wanted to go to the convention, and so he had to be chauffeur, he had to act like a...

TI: Chaperone?

SI: Chaperone.

TI: Okay. So during all this time, do you know, was he dating other women?

SI: I really don't know.

TI: How about you? Were you dating other men during this time?

SI: I don't really think so, because Milwaukie there isn't anybody around. I didn't know any Portlanders.

TI: Now when you first met him at the Spokane, was there kind of a flicker of interest between the two of you?

SI: Well, I think when you go to every convention, they have a banquet and dance and stuff. I mean, I think probably I danced with him and things. I had met him. Oh, I think my cousin married a girl in Wapato, and I think he knew that, the cousin knew that I'd lived in Portland. I don't know, somehow...

TI: But you had kind of a mutual friend.

SI: Yeah, yeah, we had friends. So I think they kind of got together and know what's going on.

TI: And then five years later you saw him again.

SI: Yeah.

TI: And I guess in a similar way, you danced together.

SI: Well, he came to see me, and then I thought, well, I think he was five years older than I am. So I guess maybe he got desperate and decided he'd better get married. [Laughs] So he came back and started dating me.

TI: So he would drive all the way to Portland and then take you out on dates?

SI: Yeah.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2023 Densho. All Rights Reserved.