<Begin Segment 9>

TI: So Henry, before we go on with Convair, see right now we're in 1957, you're twenty-eight years old, and you just graduated from the University of Washington. But before we move on to your career at Convair, I want to ask you, while you were going to the University of Washington what kind of interactions did you have with the Japanese American community in Seattle?

HM: Other than the student that we used to associate with, not too much. I really didn't have that much time to begin with because I was doing, like either a part-time job or trying to pick up speed to get up to the same level as everybody else. And I was trying to figure out what I should really want to do for my college thing. So I was trying to get myself involved with like the Mechanical Engineers Society and then the SAE group, Society of Automotive Engineers. And I was trying to do that kind of activity rather than being active within the Nikkei community.

TI: How about student organizations that were Japanese American-related, like SYNKOA House, things like that? Were you involved at all with the people in those --

HM: I knew what they were doing. I knew quite a few of the people. They were a little bit younger than I was, so I kind of shied away from getting involved with that group. But I did attend some of the social functions and things of this nature.

TI: And how about socially? Were you dating at this point in college?

HM: Yeah, occasionally, yeah. But we were lower campus guys, so it kind of differentiated us from the other more astute social individuals. But we used to go to the library once in a while, see who's around. Anyway, the, during that time period I guess I became pretty good friends with this kid from Taiwan. And, and he used to be in one of my engineering classes. And I used to wonder, he's taking a lot of electrical stuff and mechanical stuff. He's kind of -- that's different. Anyway, went to lunch one time together, and I said, "How come you're taking all these crazy classes? Are you electrical or mechanical or what are you?" And he says, "Well, I don't know. I haven't made up my mind," he says. And then -- well, I used to date his sister. And anyway, from his sister I finally found out why he was doing all this stuff. And he was on a program from Taiwan. And, and if he went back to Taiwan he would be a conscript in the army. And he just didn't want to do that. And so he was taking these courses up until maybe fifteen credits from graduation for that major, and then he'd switch. And he had done this for quite a while. And if you call him a professional student, that'd be pretty correct. But he was a smart guy. He knew a lot of different fields.

TI: That's good.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 1999 Densho. All Rights Reserved.