Densho Digital Archive - Bill Hirabayashi Interview (denshovh-hbill

<Begin Segment 19>

MA: So then how long were you at Grassmere Farms? How long?

BH: From 1943 'til 1951. See, Mr. Byfield passed away in 1950, and that's another thing. Before he... that, 1945... wait a minute, I got to come back. 1949, he said to me, "Bill," he said, "you haven't taken a vacation, so you and Anice should take a vacation." And I said, "Well, I don't really need a vacation, 'cause I have Sundays off, and Wednesday I get half a day off." He said, "But that's still not a vacation because the livestock still has to be fed, and you take care of them. So Wednesday and Sunday you're still working." He says, "If I give you a vacation, what would you do?" And I said, "Well, probably, I'll talk to Anice," but I said, "I'd like to probably go back to Seattle area and see some of our friends that have gone back there." Well, then he said, "Would you fly out there?" I said, "Heavens no." I said, "I'm trying to save money to buy a house for my family," so I said no. He said, "Well, are you going to take the train?" I said, "No." And then he, you know, he's a comedian, too, in a sense, and he says, "What are you going to do?" And I said, "No," I said, "I'm going to drive my Chevy." He says, "That rattle trap?" I said, "It's not a rattle trap." I'm defending my car. I said, "Mr. B," I said, "I just put new tires on it, and I just put a new '48 engine in it," so I said, "That would take me to Seattle with no way, no problem." He says, "I would never trust that car to go out to the West Coast." He says, "I wouldn't go to Seattle unless I went in a new car." I said, "I told you, I'm saving my money to buy a house for my family." He said, "Who said anything about you buying it?" Said, "I'm going to give you one." I said, "Oh, sure." And that's all there was. And then he says, "Ask Anice what she wants. And between you and Anice, tell me what you want. You could have anything you want." 'Cause those days, there weren't that many cars manufactured. He says, "Anything you want in a Chrysler product, a General Motors product, or a Ford product."

So a couple weeks went by and then I had to go to the, his office at the "big house" to talk about business, what we're doing, what I did, and what I have to do. Anyway, he said, "Okay, what did you decide?" I said, "Well, you know," I said, "we got a problem." Because I said, Anice likes the '49 Ford, the new Ford that came out. I like the '49 Chevy Fleet line." And I said, "She likes the two-door because Ron is still a little guy, he might fall out in a four-door or a station wagon or whatever." And I said, "She likes the sea mist green, but I like the dark green." And I just left it at that, just kind of like a joke. And that was all. So I thought that was forgotten. And then I had to go back to his office at the "big house" to get things straightened out for the end of the month, and then he said, after finishing everything, he said, "Oh, by the way," he says, "if you take the vacation," he said, "how long would you want to take it for?" I said, "Oh, golly, I'm thinking maybe ten days?" He says, "Ten days?" I thought, "Oh, gee, I blew it." He said, "You come back quicker than a month and you're fired." I said, "A month?" I said, "Who's going to take care of the livestock?" He said, "Don't you worry about it, because I've already hired Mr. Berghorn and his son to take care of it." So then he says, "Well, the other question I have to ask you is when would you like to take it? Because there's a steak dinner involved in that." And I said, "A steak dinner?" He says, "Well, anyway, I want to know." I said, "Well" -- this is in April or May -- I said, "Mr. Byfield," I said, "I won't take any vacation until I close the swimming pool, so probably September or October." He said, "I just won a steak dinner." He said, "Mrs. Byfield thought that us giving you the new car and everything, you'll want to take off right away." But he said, "I know you better." I said, "Oh, thank you." [Laughs] And so naturally I didn't take the vacation 'til the middle of September, and so it was the middle of October that we came back. Can you imagine that? You take a vacation less than a month and you're fired?

MA: And so went out to Seattle?

BH: Went to Seattle, yeah, to the West Coast. We did everything out in, went from Seattle to Ontario, Oregon, and out to Idaho where our friends were.

MA: Had people returned?

BH: Pardon?

MA: Had people returned from camp?

BH: The people that -- a few went to Seattle area, but the rest of 'em went to farms because they went out on these, harvest time, out to Ontario, Oregon, and out to Idaho, and they stayed on the farms like that. And then they started, bought their own farms and so on.

MA: What about Thomas? What happened to the town?

BH: Only, I think only about two or three families when back there that I know of.

MA: And what about the Katsunos and the Hirabayahis?

BH: We didn't go back at all. In fact, people rented a farm from Joe Schuller, you know my friend Joe Schuller, he bought the place from the government thing. And so he rented it out to one of my friends, I can't think of his name now. Different people rented it for a while, but then they quit farming because the place just didn't, it didn't work out. And one of the reasons it didn't work out, like Joe Schuller told me, is the fact that now it's a wetland. Because my parents had drainage boxes in the field, but naturally, since we didn't go back, we didn't dig up the drainage boxes and clean them out. So naturally the place just became a wetland, so it's a wetland now.

MA: And what about, so Thomas sort of, the farming just kind of stopped?

BH: Yeah, there's hardly any farmers. Only one is Harry Kawasaki has a big farm out there, but his son is running it out there, or son-in-law. But beyond that, there isn't any farm that I know of. I think it might be Italians, or Filipinos might be farming, but other than that, you don't see it. It's just, not like what it used to be.