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DG: And can you tell me the process your family went through to make the decision for some of you to leave camp before the end of the war, and some to stay behind?

MW: Well, so long as you have a sponsor. And after they said that you could go out to do that, well then, of course my older brother, my brother and my older sisters all, all prepared for that. And so they had sponsors. And when you're, when you're, the first part of your family goes out, then it makes it little easier for the next part. So they can help get sponsors for you. And so by the time it was my turn and they decided that I should come out, well, I just took Sue's place in her home. And I went to school and worked as a schoolgirl. And she paid me, she, because all she wanted me to do was to cook and wash dishes. And, so she paid me for doing that and I didn't have anything else to do there because she had a housecleaner, she had a, a person that came in to wash clothes, and a person that came in to iron. And, so there wasn't anything for me to do, so I kept up her sterling silver on her big dresser. And so I don't think that it's, I just cleaned it all the time. And they were just a wonderful family. He was the head of the English department at Northwestern University and she was a stay-at-home mother, and they had two boys, and very, a very wonderful family. And so I, I just went to school and worked there. And then on the weekend I would go visit my sisters in Chicago.

DG: And how old were you?

MW: Well, by that time I was a senior. And another thing that I did do when I was a senior, I, I got an appendix attack. So, I ended up in the hospital and had my appendix out. And which, which was a very scary thing for me because I knew that my parents weren't there. I knew that I didn't have money to pay for it, and I just worried that it would be, I was a big burden to my sister and my brother. And so, I think when they came to see me, all I did was cry 'cause I worried about that so much. And especially because they're all out there trying to make a living and working at the same time. So, most of 'em worked domestic and went out to work also. Otherwise, 'cause you had to have a sponsor, and so that's the way they, they arranged it. And so then I thought, "And then I had to have appendicitis and make it worse." But, but -- and in those days they kept you in for five days. But, it worked out all right, and I went, and when I went back to school, I had this chemistry teacher who was an older lady. And she knew that I had just come from an appendectomy and I went right back to school 'cause I didn't want to miss anymore because it would be just so terribly hard for me to catch up. And she says, "You do not come in here and do any experiments because you just came out of the hospital and I want you to go back and go sit in your chair..." and it's because she was an older lady. So, in those days, they made you be very careful. Nowadays they just get you out of the hospital right now.

DG: And by sponsor, were... these were people who were willing to take you in, but you didn't, did you, did people have to work for them like you did, or...

MW: Yeah, most of the times, yes. You would, you would work as a domestic for them to earn your room and board. But, like, and she paid, they usually pay you some extra. Like most of my friends that were, came out from camp and worked also in Evanston... there, I met a lot of people there. They were working like for three dollars a week, and they would have to baby-sit quite a, quite late at night and then do their studies after that. And, and talking to other people that I know currently, they, they said they did the same things. And they had gone to Ohio, they had lived in Ohio and other places. But I was very fortunate because I had a family that didn't make me baby-sit, and she paid me ten dollars a week. So I was a rich lady.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.