<Begin Segment 3>

MW: So after sixth grade, where did you go?

EH: I went to the high school.

MW: To the high school. So what year did you enter? You graduated in '41, is that right?

EH: '41.

MW: So that would be in the early '30s.

EH: 1935.

MW: '35, mid-'30s. And how many other elementary schools were there?

EH: There was Lincoln... what's the one that was...

MW: Island Center?

EH: I don't think there was Island Center. They were bussing them at that time, to Pleasant Beach. But there was one on, I think it was on Day Road.

MW: There must have been something in the north.

EH: I don't remember the name of it.

MW: So there was about four elementary schools?

EH: Yeah.

MW: So what was that like, the change from little McDonald to the high school?

EH: [Laughs] That was quite a change.

MW: Did you like it?

EH: Yes. I liked it real well. But what amazed me was when the clock come around and it was time to go home when we were in grade school, you know. There was no bell, no nothing. We had a bell to ring before school started, but when we got up to high school, each room had a bell and that rang and that was it.

MW: And you knew it was time to go. What kind of activities did you get involved in at the high school? Sports or theater?

EH: Well, I practiced a little bit of football. And I think the most thing that we did was we all had Model A Fords and working on a Model A Ford was a, they were easy to work on.

MW: Like the old Volkswagen?

EH: Oh, yeah, much easier than that.

MW: Even easier?

EH: Yeah. And after school we'd play chase and go putting all over the island and I lucked out, had a 1931 Model A Cabriolet, which had roll up windows and take down top. And I took the top down and boy I'll tell you, the girls, they really loved that.

MW: [Laugh], Did they go, while you were chasing each other around the island?

EH: Oh, yeah, they would sit across the back of the seat, and the rumble seat was always full.

MW: So you were a popular guy.

EH: Oh, well, when I had the car.

MW: Talk about the new friends that you, tell us about the new friends and the new, sort of the expanded...

EH: Well, I was familiar with the Japanese, because the Takayoshis, they lived in Eagledale also, and also, the Akimotos, who Jerry Nakata says were his cousins, and we used to play baseball, well, Joe Welfare was quite an athlete, and we always played baseball out in the street out in front of their place, because the Akimotos lived across the street from them.

MW: This is in Eagledale?

EH: Yeah.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2007 Densho. All Rights Reserved.