<Begin Segment 21>

MA: Well, let's talk about your children, then.

HT: I have a son that you met who is Frank.

MA: Frank.

HT: And he, that's, he works for Donaldson Incorporated doing filters and stuff. He goes all over. And that was his first job when he was a student at the university. He got a job as a part-timer. And they wanted, they hired him. That's his first job. He said that's the first job. And then he was married and they adopted a Korean boy. And then she left him, they had an amicable divorce. And she moved to California and then she married an Englishman out there. And then my grandson is over there in the summertime working. And he's, he's got, he's got another year or so.

MA: And then you have another son.

HT: Todd. Todd is a dentist and he married a girl from Chicago. When he was there he met her and the father over there said, "I cannot believe it. Have a Japanese husband." She's, they're Japanese. Usually it's mixture right now. So she, they have one boy and he was a miracle boy. And he's thirteen right now. He's very athletic and just loves it. So...

MA: And then your daughter.

HT: Yeah, Susie wasn't married but, sort of glad she didn't have any child, but she had Hodgkins. And in those days they didn't have chemo, so they did radiation. And I think the doctors said five years, she's going to be okay. And they found a spot and I think they missed it. If it was chemo it would have been all right, and then they were on from there, on and on and on. And I think toward the end it was breast, I think. I'm not sure. But she wouldn't tell me too much after that. And then the doctor said, "Come in. I'll tell you." Because I knew the doctor for a long time. But they were married for two years, David knew she had cancer and everything, but he said he's going to marry her. And that was really so good for her, too. They were so much in love and they bought a house and everything. She was teaching and he was a lawyer at that time. So now he's a Buddhist minister. And he's a good speaker, but oh, it was a sad thing.

MA: Yeah.

HT: Your daughter or your kid do not go first. Your parents go, that's understandable. But not your child. And she was, it broke my husband's heart. They were so close. We were all close, but she was more so to my husband. It almost killed him. He had a heart attack at that time, too. But he survived that. It was just one of those things. But the day he went, I came home from golf and I found him in bed. I said, "Are you still sleeping?" He was gone. And the doctor and the coroner told me, "He didn't suffer, so don't worry." Because usually they're doing that kind of stuff. He was just laying there. "So he had another heart attack, so be happy that he did not suffer." I said, "But yeah, but that was terrible. I didn't have the chance to say goodbye to him. I would have taken care of him." But it was just two, two great, bad things that happened. I hate, I hate May. That's when he died and she died.

MA: Oh, they both... in May.

HT: But I think I'm going to survive.

MA: You're doing great.

<End Segment 21> - Copyright ©2009 Densho and the Twin Cities JACL. All Rights Reserved.