<Begin Segment 18>

DG: Before we took a break for lunch, we were talking a little bit about your coming back to Seattle in 1945. And one of the things that happened was that there was a Japanese Resettlement Committee, and I think it was headed by Ruth Rolfes? Can you tell me a little bit about who she is and what about that committee?

NS: She was a member of the board of the YWCA, and also she was also connected with the Friends Service Committee, I believe. Anyway, she was a school friend and also one who was interested in resettling people, and also in students, International Students Foundation. She was a fellow YWCA worker. And she gave me a lot of moral support of all kinds. We used to meet together and do things together until she died.

DG: Now, you knew her from before the war.

NS: Before the war while we were still in school.

DG: Now, this Japanese Resettlement Committee had a number of people on it, and -- for instance, there's an Orville Robertson?

NS: Yes, he was, he was secretary of the Family Service, which helped families in need. And I used him to -- there were very few Japanese people in need, but when necessary, it was available for their use.

DG: And...

NS: But he was very supportive in many ways.

DG: Arthur Barnett was on it?

NS: Yes. Arthur Barnett also was on the committee.

DG: And he was from...?

NS: He was a lawyer and he, he could help in any situation with the law involved.

DG: And he's the one that took Gordon Hirabayashi through his...

NS: Yes. He was interested. He was also a Friend, Friend Service Committee, and also a friend of Gordon's and did a lot of the legal work for Gordon.

DG: O'Brien was on the committee?

NS: O'Brien was a professor at the university in sociology and also a member of the Friends Service Committee.

DG: Genji Mihara?

NS: Genji Mihara was a secretary of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce, and he took care of Japanese affairs. The only contact I had with him was trying to locate people in the Japanese community that needed help or wanted to have many of my services at that time.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.