<Begin Segment 18>

TL: Okay. You've already talked a little bit about returning to America and the boat ride and meeting the other Kibei. I'm wondering if you can now focus on how you got placed with that family and -- the Wilson family -- and your experiences there?

HN: Oh. Well, first I went to meet the Gotos because they were still, Reverend was still the pastor at the Grant Street Methodist Church. And he was telling me how I could get into school, high school, in Spokane at the Lewis and Clark High School. Because he said if you graduated from the school in Japan, probably you could get into high school and just take certain classes, especially American history. And then probably I could get my diploma. So he took me to the Lewis and Clark High School. They called it the continuation high school. It's for foreign students. And he talked to the teacher there, Mr. Jansen. And he said, oh, I think she just takes certain courses that he would give me credit for what I had done in Japan. So I went there about a year, and then he gave me my diploma. Lewis and Clark continuous high school.

TL: Was it a hard transition to go into this American high school?

HN: Well, he taught most of the classes, Mr. Jansen did. And then we went to, oh, I went to some other classrooms, too. But I didn't feel different or anything because English was my first language. Never forgot that language. And my sister and I kept it up. So I didn't think it was really that hard.

TL: And who were some of your classmates in this continuation high school?

HN: Oh, there's Paul Toba, he was going to continuation high school too. And he was in Japan. Let's see, he was born here, and then his parents took him back. And I think he was raised by his grandmother. Then he went to boys high school in Okayama, then he came back after the war. And he got credit for what he did in Japan. And after he graduated he went to the UW here, became an engineer at Boeing. So I see him once in a blue moon. [Laughs]

TL: Now while you were attending this high school, were you living with your father?

HN: No. That time I was living with the Wilsons because as soon as I came back, my father was still just living in a hotel, and I didn't want to do that. So, well, he knew this Mr. Wilson because he owned this restaurant, the Wilson Cafe. And it was quite a large restaurant. He was famous for his steak. And he, I think they were looking for a girl to stay at their home and kind of baby-sit the grandmother -- I mean, the mother, Mrs. Wilson, and do housework and get paid little bit. And I went over there, and they wanted me to start working right away. So I was able to stay there and then just commute to the high school from there.

TL: So how long did you work for them?

HN: Gee, it was about two years. Then I, I was going to Kelsey Baird, that be a business school in Spokane because I kind of wanted to get, well, learn typing and shorthand and maybe go back to Japan as a civil service 'cause one of my girlfriend did that. So she got a good job back in Japan. And I thought maybe if I went back I could see my mother and sister again. But in the meantime I met my husband. And, oh, we dated and then got engaged and got married. [Laughs] And that's when I left the Wilsons.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright © 1999 Densho. All Rights Reserved.