<Begin Segment 10>

DG: So you came back because your parents asked you to, but you didn't work on the farm. Or did you work on the --

HS: I did for a while, I think just one year or so. And I thought, "Oh, I can't do this." You know, it's backbreaking. So I applied for a state job.

DG: And were the, were your parents farming in Clarksburg again?

HS: Yeah, they were in, they were either in Clarksburg or West Sacramento. I think they were in West Sacramento at the time.

DG: And what, do you remember what they were growing? Did it change after the war?

HS: No, they still grew seed crops. No, wait a minute. When they came back they grew tomatoes, sugar beets.

DG: And was your brother there with them?

HS: Yes. They're, in the sugar beet harvest they didn't have, mostly it was done by hand. You dig it up and you chop it, throw it into a truck. And then my job was to drive the bobtail to the factory. I don't know how I did it. [Laughs]

DG: Do you, so when they came back, so you went to Utah, they went to Idaho. Did your parents move from Idaho back to Clarksburg?

HS: Yes.

DG: And were they, do you know what it was like when they came back?

HS: Well, they didn't have a place of their own, so they stayed with my cousins for a while, then they found a house of their own.

DG: And a farm.

HS: A house that came with land that they farmed.

DG: And either in West Sacramento or Clarksburg.

HS: It was in West Sacramento.

DG: And so you did that for about a year.

HS: They...

DG: You did it for about a year and then said, "I don't want to do this anymore."

HS: Uh-huh.

DG: So how did you know there were jobs at the state that would hire you?

HS: Well, I guess I heard it, other people working for the state. Because there were a lot before camp, before evacuation, working for the state, who were laid off.

DG: And what kind of a job did you get?

HS: Well, I started out as a junior clerk, and then I --

DG: In what department?

HS: It was the employment. And then I retired as a staff services manager.

DG: So you stayed there.

HS: Uh-huh.

DG: And did you live, did you continue to live with your parents on the farm for a while?

HS: No. For a while, but, a year or so, when I was in Beverly Hills working for the Walds, one of their friends was Kay Thompson -- I don't know whether you know her or not -- and she had an act with the Williams brothers, the four Williams brothers -- you know, Andy Williams just passed away -- and that's how... after meeting them, Kay Thompson took her act all over the place, and so I traveled with her.

DG: This is... wait, when did you do that?

HS: It was in, before 1950, because 1950, I said I started working for the state about 1950. Yeah.

DG: So this is before you moved back to be with your family?

HS: Well, when I had come back, when I returned, I got a call from Kay Thompson that she wanted me to work with her. So I did.

DG: So you got to travel around.

HS: Yeah.

DG: Where did you go?

HS: Well, went to Boston, Rhode Island, New York.

DG: And what did you do? What was your job?

HS: My job was secretary.

DG: Was that fun?

HS: Yeah.

DG: Was she nice to you?

HS: Oh, very nice. Very, very nice. You know, she's the godmother to Liza Minnelli.

DG: Wow. So you toured the East Coast with her.

HS: Well, wherever she was playing, performing. But after that she -- she had a real good act, real smart.

DG: Can you describe what she would do? Was she -- I mean, I've heard her name, but I don't know what she did. What was her act?

HS: Well, she wrote her own act. It was dancing and singing, real fast. You just can't get bored watching it. And I remember when she was performing at Cyril's -- I don't know if you remember Cyril's, maybe it's still there -- the same people would come, night after night, because that's how good she was.

DG: So how long did you do that, tour with her?

HS: I think about a year.

DG: You've had quite an interesting experience.

HS: But, so I was communicating with her and Andy Williams and so I was really sorry when Andy passed away.

DG: Yeah. It was nice hearing him sing, though, on the show, on the TV.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2012 Densho and Preserving California's Japantowns. All Rights Reserved.