<Begin Segment 11>

DC: Is there anything else you want to say about what your life was like around the war years?

MM: I don't know... you know what? I was, we were lucky really.

ET: Yeah, we were.

MM: Where I went to work to take care of the little baby and all, Mrs. Katzen says, "Mary, you can stay here and go to school." And I says, well, that's nice, so I looked around and I can walk to this commercial, no, it was Browning's, Browning's bookkeeping or something. So I went to talk about it and I said, "I can come in the morning or in the afternoon after I do my work at the house over there for the lady." And Mrs. Katzen says, "No, Mary, why don't you go full time?" I says, "I can't do that coming from, coming here and staying with you and then going to school full time." And so I went half a day to school, and then one day Mrs. Browning, the teacher, the owner of the school, says, "Mary, I'm going to ask one thing of you: will you take over my bookkeeping class for one month while I go on vacation, and when I get back I'll get a job for you." Oh, what can you do? I said sure. I wasn't a bookkeeping teacher but I pretended. And then all the other students says, "You cheated. That's why you had your good work done." I said, "No, I didn't cheat." The teacher knew already, you know. And so she says, "Just take over the bookkeeping class for one month that's all. And when I get back, I will place you." What can you say, huh?

DC: And then did you get a job as a bookkeeper afterwards?

MM: Yeah, I worked for... Springer Transfer Company for quite a while. And you know what? I never knew anything about spittoons. And this office, they've got things set up, there's this desk, that desk, I says, "What are those things?" That's how, that's how, you know, innocent I was. Said, "Oh, those are spittoons." "What do you do with them?" I says, "Take that away from my desk. I mean it, you know." I tell you, that was the funniest thing I ever... at my age I didn't know what a spittoon was. I didn't know, because I never was introduced to things like that. And so finally I said... oh but it's not bad working here. I had a big old bookkeeping machine and all, and you know. Working. And I says, "One thing, you've got to remove that thing from my desk." And they did. And so I worked there quite a while. I had a nice boss, and then I left for Los Angeles. I told my folks, "I think I'll go to California and see if I can get a job over there." And I stayed with my aunt for a few weeks, and got a job at a bank in Pasadena, California. I went straight into bookkeeping, and I worked there for a while, then I decided, well, now, I've got to get something more interesting, so I went to main street in Los Angeles and I went into different kind of place. And there was a... I think it's more of bonds and...

CM: Aikin Lambert stock and bond.

MM: Stock and bond place, and I thought, well, this will be interesting, and they gave me a job. So... and in that place, the lady that was working there, who was going to help me out, was an elderly lady, and we got along so well she taught me everything. She did, and we became real good friends. And she had a sister that lived in San Gabriel, California, and she, and they invited me over to their house and fixed dinner and everything, you know. And I was really lucky. And I worked at Aikin Lambert for a long time. Pretty soon I was working bookkeeping and now I was answering phones. And so finally the boss came to me and says, "I wonder if you'd do me a favor." I says, "What?" He says, "Will you take over my ledger while I'm gone because I don't want anybody else working on my ledger, because," he says, "My work is messy but you do a beautiful job." So I thought, well, I says, "Okay, I'll do it." And I worked on his ledger while he was gone. Anyway, he came back, I got a raise, isn't that wonderful? Really, I didn't have to ask for it. He just gave me a raise and I says, "Wow, this is fine." Now I was the telephone operator. She had to take off for a while, so he says, "Would you take over the telephone place?" "Oh, of course," and I learned that. Pretty soon I get another raise, see? That was nice. I'll never forget that company. They're out of business now but they were bonds and, you know, something I never thought about. First of all they gave me a sheet and the, I says, "One million dollars? What in the heck are they doing with a million dollars?" So I went to the boss, I says, "I don't understand." He says, "Mary, you're working the broker's job." And they took me in, just taught me everything, and this little lady that was there before me, she showed me a lot, too.

DC: So how long did you work for that company?

MM: Oh, until I got married. Then I came home to Albuquerque and I got married.

DC: I see. So what was it like for you to be back in California?

MM: It was nice, you know. I bought a car, and my brother was going to university at USC, and so I said, "Look, I'll keep the car weekdays, and you can have the car on weekends," because he was going to school and all. And so we got along pretty well. I didn't use the car too much, but I was able to drive the freeway. When you can drive the freeway in Los Angeles, you're doing good, I'll tell you.

ET: It's worse now I'll bet you.

MM: I'll bet is worse.

DC: And about what year was it that you went back to California?

MM: Gee... it's been so long I forget the date but it was, it was even before I was married so, huh, Charlie?

DC: Just a few years after the war ended?

MM: Huh?

DC: Was it just a few years after the war ended?

MM: Oh, yeah.

DC: And then when you were there for the second time, did it feel different? Did it feel safer for Japanese Americans there, did you have to worry?

CM: The war was over by then.

MM: By then the war was over, yeah. But you know something, it's an experience all young people should go through.

DC: What's an experience that they should all go through?

MM: I got to learn so much. I know what a spittoon was. [Laughs]

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 2012 New Mexico JACL and Densho. All Rights Reserved.