<Begin Segment 8>

JS: And so when you were living in Madera, did you still come back to Walnut Grove at that time?

KM: Yes, every summer.

JS: Every summer.

KM: One of my grandparents were there. But after my auntie died, I don't think I went that often.

JS: So can you explain to us what happened with your auntie when she got sick?

KM: Oh, yeah, she passed away. Because after, I think about it, the room was so dark and she would sleep all day. And then just comes out at night. And it's dark, you know. So that's what I kind of think, that she died of tuberculosis.

JS: So you visited her when she was ill, and so she was just resting?

KM: Yeah, I remember when she died, yeah. I could still, I was ten, I think, but I could still picture her lying on, by that mortuary, and the curtain, the breeze was, I picture that breeze gently...

JS: Gently blowing?

KM: Blowing while she's there. And my two uncles were crying. That's all I remember about her. I don't remember her funeral in Walnut Grove. I was right there, but I don't remember that. I just remember her body lying there.

JS: So before the funeral, you remembered that. And she was how many years older than you? Just three years older?

KM: Three. She was thirteen when she passed away. I was ten when she passed away.

JS: So you remember your uncles crying, do you remember your grandmother or grandfather's response?

KM: No, I don't remember them. Just my Uncle Bill, crying.

JS: That was very sad. And shortly after, your grandparents returned to Japan?

KM: Yes. My grandfather went first.

JS: And so earlier you were saying you remember seeing him off to the, on the ship from Sacramento.

KM: Yeah, it's a small boat that took them to San Francisco, saying goodbye to him.

JS: So the whole family went to Sacramento to see him off?

KM: See him off, uh-huh. At that time, when she passed away, they were living on Fourth Street in Sacramento.

JS: Oh, they had moved already out of Walnut Grove.

KM: Walnut Grove.

JS: But the funeral service was in Walnut Grove.

KM: Uh-huh.

JS: Oh, okay. And then they moved to Sacramento.

KM: Yes.

JS: Okay. And why did they move to Sacramento?

KM: That, I...

JS: You're not sure.

KM: I don't know. I never asked my uncle.

JS: Okay.

KM: I think because then they had high school there, and college there.

JS: Oh, for your uncles to go to college, or to high school?

KM: Because Walnut Grove didn't have any high school, I don't think. So they moved, I think they sold the place and moved to Sacramento. But that part I don't know, I never asked my uncle. They passed away pretty early. I used to see my uncle every day, but we never questioned about Walnut Grove. But I know he was a singer. Both of my uncles sang; they had good voice.

JS: So they were both part of the theater group, or...

KM: Yeah, theater group.

JS: Both of them?

KM: Yeah. I'm sure my uncle Roy, he probably organized it.

JS: He probably organized it?

KM: Yes.

JS: And what was the difference in age between Uncle Roy and Uncle Bill?

KM: Let's see...

JS: Were they pretty close?

KM: Maybe about five or six.

JS: Okay. And then Tomiko was another...

KM: Uh-huh. After the two girls that went, one went to Canada, Wakita, I remember she married Wakita in Canada. She came to visit us after, but we never knew her because she was adopted. My grandmother gave her to this Wakita 'cause they didn't have any children. That's one I don't even remember.

JS: Oh, so this was one of your father's sisters that was born?

KM: Uh-huh, yes.

JS: And she was given up for adoption.

KM: Yes.

JS: Okay.

KM: And she married Wakita, and I believed, I did meet the family once, they came to visit us, her family. But she was adopted. So my grandmother had one, two, three, three boys and three girls then.

JS: Three girls, one was adopted...

KM: One married a doctor and went to Japan.

JS: Uh-huh, and then Tomiko that passed away when she was young. Okay. Do you remember when your Auntie Sadako was married and when she left? When she married Dr. Wakita?

KM: I don't remember.

JS: You don't remember. Okay. [Addressing TI] Do you want to take a break?

TI: Just something about your grandmother. So she had your, your father, and then there was a --

KM: Japan.

TI: Yeah, there was a long break. And he was sixteen when he came, then the other children. So between your father and Tomiko, that was quite a...

KM: Quiet, huh?

TI: A long time. And that's why you were so close in age to your aunt, because your father was so much older. It was his sister who died, but he was so much older the he would have a child, you, that was close in age to his sister.

KM: To her, yeah. Two years younger, that's all.

TI: So it was almost more like a cousin almost, than, an aunt, in terms of the relationship that you had with Tomiko.

KM: Yes.

TI: And probably even her older brothers in some ways, they're almost like...

KM: I don't remember being friends with the uncles, though, just Tomiko.

TI: And so when she died, that was really hard on you, because it was, like, not so much an aunt, but a very close friend.

KM: Yes, like a sister, big sister to me.

TI: And I'm thinking about your grandparents and how they left really right after she died. Did you notice a change in them? Were they... could you notice a sadness or anything about them after?

KM: Yeah, they were ill, so they moved. I think he had liver trouble. And so my grandmother went, and they both passed away. But I never went to the funeral or anything.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2009 Densho and Preserving California's Japantowns. All Rights Reserved.