<Begin Segment 4>

KO: Then my dad, he took us through many cities in Southwest Washington, trying to find his pot of gold or whatever he was looking for. But he was a renegade, and he had his own ideas, and thoughts, and hopes, I think; and a lot of times I felt that he didn't consider the family too much.

AI: So as he was searching around for something that would work for him, or trying to follow his dream, you were all carted along with him.

KO: That's right. I think we were just, I don't know that he really thought about what he was doing to the family life. But, he was probably trying to find a life that he could take care of us the best he could, and that's the way it worked.

AI: Well, what was the next home that you really remember?

KO: Well, I think... I can remember vaguely living in Hoquiam, Washington, and going to school there. And then we ended up at Copalis Crossing near Copalis Beach, and going to school there. But in each of those places I can remember always making friends, and getting along with Caucasian friends. 'Course there were other Japanese there too, but in Hoquiam we were alone there. We were living among Caucasian families. I can't remember where we ever had a problem of any kind. Then we finally ended up in Raymond, Washington, where I went to school, and spent the longest period there of my youth.

AI: And what took your family to Raymond? And what did your dad end up doing there?

KO: Well, Raymond was a lumbering town, as well as fishing and oysters, and things like that. But my dad, I think it was always his dream of becoming a exporter of lumber to Japan. So he was going, starting a business. And I'm sure some of 'em collapsed, so he'd go work for a sawmill for awhile, and then he'd come back and try it again, and then he'd end up working somewhere out in the woods, cutting down logs and things like that. And then he'd start another business, and then he'd be back to working in the lumber mill again. And that's where he was, what he was doing when we were evacuated.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.