Densho Digital Archive - Hiroko Nakashima Interview (denshovh-nhiroko-01-0022)

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TL: And was your first-born, grew up at that farm a little bit?

HN: Yeah because I had a doctor's appointment that one Friday. I was driving myself to the doctor. And when doctor saw me -- I was pregnant at that time with my oldest -- and he said, "You're dilating. You better get into the hospital." So I went in, and that, I had him so many hours later. And no one knew where I was, so the doctor had to call and tell them what happened.

TL: Was it pretty far from the farm?

HN: Uh-huh, because the farm is outskirt and the hospital is the Sacred Heart Hospital in town. So that was a bad experience. No one was there.

TL: Yeah.

HN: But my husband was in Japan 'til, gee, he didn't get back until about a year, he was over there about a year and a half. So when he came back Ron was thirteen month old already. So that was, it was kind of a surprise. It's kind of sad because Ron didn't know who he was. He started crying. My husband tried to carry him. But everybody was happy that he was back. Then we stayed there for a while and, until he could find another job. Well, right after we got married he worked in Coulee Dam. And we lived in Coulee Dam. And then I guess there wasn't any opening with the Bureau of Reclamation, so he was able to get a job with the Army Engineers in Walla Walla. So we moved to Walla Walla after, and stayed there for a while. And then after Walla Walla we went to Bremerton, and he worked there. And from Bremerton we came to Seattle in 1954. And that's when our second boy was born.

TL: Were you able to stay in Seattle after that?

HN: Uh-huh. Yes. So we've been here ever since '54.

TL: Was it hard to live in those smaller communities where probably no other Japanese Americans?

HN: No, but our friends, the engineer friends that were there, like the Bureau of Reclamation, we met -- oh, we met, we lived in a trailer house, and we met some, one Japanese, his name was Nakahara. I think he's an engineer. I think he lives here in Seattle now. Tsu Nakahara, I think it was. And then he made friend with, we made friend with other couple, young couples. Then Walla Walla, our friend was there that my husband went to school with from grade school. So -- not Japanese, but he was a real good friend. But no, we didn't, there wasn't any other Japanese couple there.