<Begin Segment 15>

TI: So when you came back to Fresno, where did you go?

KI: That's another question. Oh, do you know?

JS: Hmm. Were you with the Ikeda family? 'Cause... did they go back to farming?

KI: I was... let's see. I have to ask Fumio what I did. Gee, this is...

JS: What happened with the Ozawas? Did the Ozawas go to camp, too?

KI: No, they moved to, they went back to Japan.

JS: Oh, before the war they went back to Japan?

KI: Yeah, they went back.

TI: Okay, so this is in the notes, I just realized. So in our notes, we have that your father went to Chicago to live with your older brother Tom? And Chicago is where he died. So this was probably during the war, he died.

KI: Ooh. You have those kind of notations?

JS: Well, that's what you told me before, but we can check and make sure it's correct, yeah, when we met last week, week and a half ago.

TI: Okay, but we can, but that's not important, I just saw that in my notes. So when you got back to Fresno, so you're not sure where you stayed, but do you remember any other memories of Fresno when you returned, what it was like?

KI: Hmm. After the war... after the war I was married, so... where did we go?

TI: Did you go back to --

KI: Oh, we went to the country in Clovis, yeah. That's where we went.

TI: Okay, so probably the Ikeda farm?

KI: We were living on the... Bigleoni, was it? Bigleoni? Hi worked for a Italian person, and they had two freight cars made into housing with a living room made. We stayed there. And then I went to... I was so ashamed when the reverend came to visit me that I was living in such a place, I decided I should get a job and get a salary so I could build myself a house in Clovis. So I saved thirty-six thousand dollars and built this house just the way, how, I drew my blueprint how I wanted my house. The garage on the sunny side, a two-car garage, and then when you enter, that's a hallway to a closet for pantry, I mean, pantry, and a bathroom and a washroom. And then this way, when you go this way, it's the kitchen, and then the oven, two oven, and the sink, and an open area going to the, a sliding door to the back of the house. And I, from the kitchen, there's the front entrance to the house from the front, and then I had a living room, and then I had three bedrooms, and then I had a bathroom on that end. And I was able to pay thirty-six thousand dollar to Leo Wilson to build my house and he built it for me.

TI: So you had it all planned out, and you knew what you wanted, the layout, how many rooms, where the rooms were.

KI: Uh-huh... and then...

TI: That's amazing.

KI: And then overhead where the sunlight comes in, you know, what do they call that?

JS: Skylight.

KI: Skylight, yeah.

TI: And when he built it, did it, did it look like what it looked like in your mind? Did you get exactly what you wanted?

KI: Yeah.

TI: And how long did you live in this house?

KI: Let's see. When my daughter became a nurse. I sent my daughter to become a nurse, she was the youngest daughter, she became a nurse. And then she took a, she got a job in Sacramento, so she left me. And I was lonely, and I did have a car so I could go shopping and things and cook for myself. I missed... I missed being alone, and so I decided, I'm going to go and live with my daughter Sherry that moved away from me. And so I lived with her for a couple of years, and my house, I rented it out. And so I still get rent from that house.

TI: Oh, so you still own the house? So that's, like, over sixty years, probably.

KI: Yeah.

TI: Fifty sixty years, yeah. Wow. So it was really a family, the family house, then.

KI: Yeah, family.

<End Segment 15> - Copyright © 2010 Densho and Preserving California's Japantowns. All Rights Reserved.