<Begin Segment 13>

DG: So how old were you when you, your marriage was arranged? Let's talk about that.

FN: Well, see I. It was in 1929 that I married, but it, it, it was during...

DG: So how old were you?

FN: Huh? I was, I think I was nineteen when I, when I first. See I was, I was, born in 1909 so I was married in '29.

DG: So...

FN: But, but...

DG: How was it arranged?

FN: Well it was arranged because, see... there's a friend of the family in Bellingham that worked for a pharmacist. And he, you remember King Kalow, the restaurant King Kalow. Well that, Wakamatsu. Mr. Wakamatsu was a good friend of my, my folks. So they made the arrangements.

DG: And you didn't mind?

FN: Well, in those days you just, you just didn't even think. You just didn't even think it was arranged or, but. 'Cause you really didn't have boyfriends like they do now days. The kids run around... We had no, no.

DG: Did you?

FN: We didn't even think, think of boyfriends. [Laughs]

DG: Did you have a choice, I mean at all, I mean. Did you get a chance to meet him or?

FN: Well yeah. I got a chance to meet him. And, you know...

DG: Could you have refused?

FN: No. [Laughs]

DG: So what did... so your sister married a Nisei though, right?

FN: No, my, my older sister. No, he was a...

DG: Oh...

FN: He was a alien too.

DG: Oh, he was too.

FN: He was a Issei. Yeah, he was an Issei too.

DG: Oh, I see.

FN: Yeah, uh-huh, he was an Issei.

DG: So most of the girls your age.

FN: Yeah, that, that age, they, they were. Uh-huh, most of them. Very few. Well maybe there's some that married. Even the Niseis were arranged too, you know.

DG: So what did you think when. So tell me a little bit more about getting married then, how... how did you go about... what, when did you first meet him, what was your first so-called date? Maybe it wasn't a date, but.

FN: Well I think, it was first, when he, he did come up to Blanchard. And Blanchard is a small town. And...

DG: What was your impression when you first met him?

FN: Well you know, my husb -- you knew my husband, didn't you.

DG: Right.

FN: He was a very, he was always a real gentleman, really, even to the very end. He was always that way. So, so I, I think we, we just you know, made a good impression, both of us got along real well. So there was no problem there at all.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.