<Begin Segment 28>

SY: So after you were married, then did you go, did you, what did you end up becoming professionally?

NG: Yes, I was a teacher. So we got married in '64. He, so he, now he's going to school because right after that he decided he needs to go back to school.

SY: So you supported him while he went to school.

NG: Yeah. But he also, but he still worked. He still worked. He went to school. The first two years, 'cause he was in junior college, he worked fulltime as a draftsmen at RCA, and then went to school at night. And then, then when he had to speed it up, then, I don't, I think he worked part time. Not quite sure. But then he went to engineering. That West Coast no longer exists, but he used to be a... all the classes are at night 'cause it's for working people, and it's engineering, and engineering school. So yeah, so then when Karen was two years old he finally finished.

SY: Wow.

NG: But he still, then, so he was still at RCA, but just now became an engineer.

SY: And you were working?

NG: Yeah, I was working. Well no, I was, I was on childcare from when she was born, stayed home for three years. I would sub now and then. And then I get the letter from LAUSD, she was -- no, I was home for three years, and then Kim was born in March of that third year, and I get a letter from the... 'cause we were all on childcare. There's tons of us all on childcare and they needed to, they needed to get a handle on things, so LAUSD sent me a letter saying I need to come back in September or I resign. And I'm home, I mean, I can't imagine working and taking care of these kids. And as I saw my neighbor every morning bundling up her kids, I cannot do this. And I remember Yas coming home and I'm greeting him at the door and I've got the letter and I'm crying. He goes, "What?" And, but I couldn't think of, I couldn't imagine me not teaching. I mean, as a career, not to be working, I just couldn't see that. So I get my mom to watch Karen. I start to, today she'll be in childcare whatever, and everybody's gonna do this and everybody's gonna do that, and my mom goes, "You act like you're the only one working." [Laughs] But once you start you just...

SY: You manage to...

NG: You manage to do it.

SY: Really? Wow. So you never stopped --

NG: Yeah. But I had family. I had family. Two days a week she did go to, she did go to a daycare, but then my mom, from the gas station, would not go those three days and watch Karen, then my mom got a Japanese lady to come to my mom's house and take care of Kim as an infant. Then when they got old enough, then my aunt, my aunt took care of all the kids, my kids, later on my brother's kids, 'cause she had one the same age as Karen.

SY: Wow. That, again, I come back to the, your family was really very close and supportive of each other.

NG: Yeah.

SY: And it's not just your immediate family; it's this extended family.

NG: Yeah, 'cause that's the hardest part, the childcare, you know? 'Cause my daughter, I watch my grandkids, and my older one, we, we've been the only caregivers for her. She teaches. But my other one who lives in Westchester, she's always, she's been lucky, but she has a person that comes in -- she used to live across the street, so it was great. It's very costly, and luckily she has a job that she could afford it. Otherwise...

SY: So do you, do you feel like it's been a good thing to have... I mean, are there advantages and disadvantages to having this family unit that's managed to stay together for so many years? This, because, largely because there's so many siblings, right?

NG: Right, yeah, but we, we've had, there's one, now I'm estranged from one of my cousins.

SY: And the woman, and the aunt who had the eight kids, that family is, are you close to that family?

NG: No, that's the family now I'm estranged with, for, I don't, circumstances I don't want to put on here. [Laughs] But we were, 'cause the eldest... they're gone. My auntie's gone, my uncle's gone. In fact, all, she had three daughters, they're all gone. They died before my grandmother. My grandmother said this is not right that she should be living and they're not. But the, and she being the eldest, the eldest grandson was, the eldest child, who happened to be a grandson, was my grandmother's first grandson.

SY: And how many grandkids did your --

NG: She had, like, twenty-seven.

SY: That's a lot.

NG: Yeah, and then we made, we did this tree. But, so and then, she was like sixteen, she had to get married, so he, and he was like four -- premature -- he was like four pounds, so he was very special to all the aunties because my auntie was, like, they didn't feel that responsible to have all these kids. And so, and he became, as an adult, like the leader of the family, so when there was a funeral or whatever, he's the one that was at our house when my dad died or my grandmother died or my, you know. He handled everything. So, but I'm estranged from his family now, so it's kind of...

SY: But for the most part your family has managed to stay pretty much...

NG: And my parents are still -- I mean, my parents, my mom is still, and now I only have one aunt left and my mom, the only two children left. And of course, they're close too. They're still close.

SY: Close to each other.

NG: Yeah.

SY: Yeah, that's nice.

<End Segment 28> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.