<Begin Segment 8>

HU: One of the saddest things I ever heard and experienced was my niece, Frank's daughter. They went to university and became a teacher, they have position as a teacher, but never saw her father. [Cries] Because he was out there all the time on the farm. What a tragic letter I received from her. She said, "I don't know my father." That's the kind of thing that went on. It's not all happy life. But she said, "Uncle, write me about my father." But they were left with a big, big basket of treasure. He's the only one, Frank's the only one who went back to farm. He revived the farm, then came the big oil company who wanted to buy that land. And another contractor came and says, "We want to buy part of your land for sand and rock." He says, "I retire." He retired, but didn't know her father. I wrote four-page legal paper explaining to her who her father was, because he and I grew up.

TI: And explain to me why Frank's daughter, you said he worked really hard, but why didn't she know her father better? Why did she have to go to you...

HU: Because Frank and I grew up together, so we know.

TI: But then did Frank, did Frank die?

HU: No.

TI: He just wasn't able to talk to his daughter, that she had to talk to you.

HU: This happened after the father died.

TI: Okay, after Frank died. And so she never, never knew her father. Okay, yeah, that's tragic.

HU: Because he was out in the farm.

TI: Right.

HU: They went to university, they'd never be home. That was a tragic thing when I received that letter.

TI: Okay. No, that's hard. So then when you work so hard on a farm, it's hard on the family.

HU: But the first two brothers, when they came out of the camp, they started a grocery store with all the Japanese food and fish. And they made it all right, because they were the only Japanese grocery market in Sacramento.

TI: So the family was doing quite well. They had land, they farmed, they had a grocery business. So it was doing really quite well, the family.

HU: But the sad part of it, that sixty-five acres, wonderful farm. They couldn't make the mortgage payment when they were in internment camp. Went back to the original owner, they lost that. Worth more than a million dollars. But then they gave up, they came back and started a grocery store.

TI: Oh, so was the grocery store started after the war or before?

HU: After the war, when they came out of the camp.

TI: Okay.

HU: True to form. That's what Dad was telling us.

TI: Yeah, not to give up.

HU: Never give up.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright ©2009 Densho and the Twin Cities JACL. All Rights Reserved.