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HM: Before the war, Tom had his place already and then he was neighbors with some Japanese who moved away. Is that correct?

DA: To what?

HM: He was a neighbor of the Furukawas, and they had moved away. How many Filipinos do you think took over the Japanese farms?

DA: The farms? All I know is the Chihara farm, my brother-in-law, Garcia, took over that one. And Felix Alamzon took over the Furukawa. I don't know who Membrere, you know, Membrere, I don't know whose farm he took over. But I only know those two because we used to work there. But, oh, those strawberries. They don't have strawberries like that nowadays. You can't... you don't even feel like buying the California strawberries. My son, the one I told you lived in Seabeck, he grew two rows. First thing he did after he bought his home, he planted two rows of strawberries. Oh, they were good. He bought them from Sakuma, a Sakuma family up in...

HM: Burlington.

DA: What's the name of that... Mount Vernon.

HM: They used to live on Bainbridge.

DA: Yeah. Oh, that yet... Mrs. Sakuma, I believe, was from Canada. Yeah.

HM: Oh, yes, one of them.

DA: They had, they had two boys, yeah? I used to work with, work for the lady that Mr. Sakuma used to clean yard and take care of the yard work outside, Mrs. Burkheimer. I worked for her for a couple a years. She had my whole family working, you know, while they were in school. One was a chauffeur, she was a housekeeper. And... but I didn't... what do you call it? My grandmother would talk about Mr. Furukawa. She'd talk about when he'd be out cleaning berries and stuff. And they left a house, it was empty, and we lived in the chicken house. My uncle used to talk about their son. I don't know if his name was Tosh, he used to be outside at the tap washing the rice, gettin' rice ready to cook. He'd be out there and they'd go over and tease him. But I think she worked for him for a few years, but I don't know who she worked for before that.

HM: Can you tell us a little bit of the importance of, of this Filipino Hall? This place... I remember, right after the war and things when we came home, we used to, they used to have dances here, and the band would be playing, we could hear the music from our house.

DA: Oh, we did most of our dancing down at your place, or another place out at Bainbridge Gardens. There's a little house there, we used to go there and dance before they got this [points to surroundings]. Yeah. But they had no place, they were delivering their berries down at the waterfront. Finch? Was that Finch Avenue, down at the end there. That's where they used to take their berries. The man from Seattle used to come over, the buyers, come over and look at what you're picking. There was one year it was really bad. We had rain, and some of the farmers were sending in bad berries. So they sent somebody over to check.

HM: What are some of the events that you... what are some of the events that have taken place here in this hall?

DA: I have no idea. You know, Tom and I, we never came here. We didn't come here until they started, they took over. [Gestures to daughter] But my husband, he used to deliver berries here. I don't know, they have, had sort of a, bit of a squabble when they first started this. So that's why my husband wouldn't come. He was a very private person. Yeah. Very shy, you know. I don't know how we ever got together. [Laughs]

HM: Did you... then, did you socialize much with either the other Native, Native Canadians and Filipinos...

DA: Well, I'll tell you, when we first got married, it just seemed to bring out all the boys, you know, the Filipino boys, when they got married. So we would gather at different places, at weddings, at baptisms, and stuff like that there, to get together. And we all got along, I think because most of the girls were from British Columbia. There were a few from, like, Bellingham and Yakima, but not very many. The most of 'em came from Canada. They're all gone now, just like the Filipino boys. There's only two left, out of maybe fifty. But they were, they all treated me, you know, as if I were somebody. They loved my children. And their children are like that now when they see me. You know, you'd think I'd seen, see them every day, but sometimes I don't. I see them now when they're that and the next time you see them when they're that. [Indicates different heights with hands] But they get along really well when they're all together.

HM: I think you have a very strong community now.

DA: So, but as I said, well, now I live in Kingston. My youngest daughter just bought a new home, she just sold her home in Seattle, the one that works for the Port of Seattle. She bought a home in Seattle and she's been there for years. And she finally decided -- when I moved in with her in Seattle 'cause I had cracked my knee and I needed somebody to take care of, 'cause we were close to the hospital, the Virginia Mason. And she decided, "I'd like to buy a new home." So now they can go to the Internet, you know, whatever that is, the Internet, and she was lookin' through there and she saw this home in Kingston. She says, "I'm gonna go over and look at it." So she went over and she said she liked it, so she talked to the real estate lady. In the meantime, there were other people that had looked at it and they liked it, so she, she had to wait until they said. And just last, last spring? I think last spring, she said, "I'm gonna get it." She says, "I'm gonna get it," she put, you know. So now I live in Kingston. In a... from a chicken house to a huge beautiful home. And she's got a huge shop that the owner I guess used to use. It's a shop where you can put things. And now her brother's got two boats in there, he's got his car in there, she's got her truck in there, she's got her little car. She just bought a truck the other day so she could move her stuff from Seattle. And then she got a whole bunch of other stuff. Well, that's her.

This one here bought, got herself a home, had herself a home built. My, the one in Seabeck, bought a home. And he had two daughters, beautiful girls, that just got married, but they live on the East Coast. And the oldest boy, the one in Santiago, Chile, he has like what they call a townhouse, or condo type thing. yeah. And he plays golf, that's all he does now. He's retired; he plays golf. But he's got two bad knees. Two really bad knees that are just... because he, he hurt, he hurt one when they got, when they played sports. He twisted one knee so it's surgery there, then he hurt the other one and he had surgery.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2007 Densho. All Rights Reserved.