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TI: So you and Ken found a place, some land, got a loan, did that, and then with your ten thousand dollars in savings, you helped furnish it and it was just like a cash reserve later on. And then once that happened, it sounds like, as you said, you started having babies right away.

SI: I didn't have to work. [Laughs] I was ready to work if I had to have a job, but I didn't have to.

TI: And so when you first bought this property, was there a house on the land?

SI: Yes, there was a smaller house. We lived in there maybe about ten years, and then we built this house after ten years, because I've had so many kids, and they're getting older. So I had to have a bigger house.

TI: And so what year did you get married, do you remember what year?

SI: '55.

TI: Okay, '55. And yeah, I talked to Lon, and he was born at the end of 1955. So you did have a baby right away.

SI: Yeah. I know, that's why I didn't have to work. [Laughs]

TI: And how many children did you have?

SI: I think I had six, and one died at birth.

TI: And we went through the names with...

SI: Galen is the one that died.

TI: And for Galen, was it at birth?

SI: Yeah, he only lasted three hours, then he died right away.

TI: Oh, that must have been so difficult, I'm sorry.

SI: I think he was born early, six months or something. So he wasn't fully developed.

TI: And so while you were raising the children, your husband Ken was really running the farm.

SI: Yes.

TI: And what were those days like? So how hard did Ken have to work? Because not only his farm, but his father's farm, too, right? Your father-in-law still was farming 80 acres and you had 40 acres here.

SI: Well, I think Ken, he took over the leases, the father didn't do it anymore, because he was getting older. And I don't know what year he died, but he had a stroke and he died.

TI: And so your husband, Ken, was running both farms.

SI: Both the 40 and the 80.

TI: So how hard was that? How much work, like how many hours was he working on the farm?

SI: Gee, I don't know, but I know anytime it was necessary to do something, he was there to do it. He didn't have to do it; he didn't have to work that hard.

TI: During those years, do you ever remember family vacations? Did you guys do any trips or things like that?

SI: The only thing I remember sometimes is we'd go to the beach, Seaside.

TI: Oh, so the Oregon Coast?

SI: Yeah, Oregon Coast, yeah.

TI: Seaside.

SI: Not that often.

TI: Any memories of raising a family, first in the other house, but now this house that, when you think about raising the family here, what comes to mind?

SI: What?

TI: What kind of memories do you have of... like I guess a question is, as your kids were being raised, I know Ken had a lot of siblings. Did other families come visit you here from, like, Seattle?

SI: I'm sure they must have... they had families, too, so they can't always come, and they worked.

TI: But I've talked to some of the Seattle, Lon's cousins. Like Les Inaba, Bruce Inaba, and their stories of visiting the Wapato farm. They would come over, and they said they would spend the night or something, or spend some time here. Do you remember any of that, any of the cousins spending...

SI: I don't know where they stayed. I can't remember where they would have stayed.

TI: Lon was saying that some of them may have slept on the floor here.

SI: [Laughs] Oh. I know the ones, I don't know who they were, but they did stay.

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2023 Densho. All Rights Reserved.