<Begin Segment 4>

MA: And what were some of your, in high school, what were some of your goals? I know that you went on to college, was that always a, sort of, goal of yours, to go on to higher education?

MY: I'm not sure. I don't think I had any, actually, any plans. We just kind of lived day by day during that time. But it was my older sister that came down from Seattle, she's the one that encouraged me to go to college, and she took me to Oregon State College, drove me there and signed me up. So that was the beginning of my education.

MA: And this is your sister who, was she sent to live in Seattle? Or how did she get there?

MY: She was working, she was working as a nurse. I don't know how she got to Seattle, but she was working as a nurse in a TB sanitarium in Seattle. And she's always felt that, like she was responsible for my sister and I because she was older. And she had hard times, too, so took her a while. But I was fortunate that we did have her to kind of guide us.

MA: Well, it sounds like she was very influential in terms of encouraging you to pursue college.

MY: Yes, yes she was. So I ended up at Oregon State, and she somehow, I don't know how I arranged to get a home to be working in to pay for tuition and what have you, working in this home. In fact, most of the Niseis that were going to college were all working in homes to pay their way.

MA: How many students would you say from your high school went on to college?

MY: Gosh, I couldn't even begin to guess.

MA: Was it a common path, or was it sort of an anomaly that students would go on to college?

MY: I don't think... my guess would be there weren't too many. Because there was no college around that would influence them. And it was kind of like a farming community, actually, so I think the people mostly went on to farming or something in that line.

MA: And you said that you were, started attending Oregon State University, which is Corvallis?

MY: It's Oregon State College in Corvallis, right.

MA: Oregon State College of Corvallis. And so you lived, can you explain how you, where you worked and where you lived?

MY: Yeah. When I was... after high school graduation, Mrs. Yokota sent me to live with this Saito family in the city proper. They're the ones that managed -- I don't know if they owned -- but managed this coffee shop in the hotel. So I lived with them and worked at the coffee shop. And then from there, my sister arranged for me to go to Oregon State, so I worked about a year at the coffee shop and then went on to Corvallis and lived... and I don't know how we got this home that I... but it seems that she always took in students. She had a boy working to do the yardwork that lived in the basement, and I had room up in the third floor. And so I stayed, worked with, for her, going back and forth, until the war broke out.

MA: And was this a Nisei lady?

MY: No. She was what they sort of call a "staunch citizen of Corvallis." [Laughs] So evidently she was an influential member of society there. And it seems like she had a pattern of helping students out that way.

MA: And tell me a little bit about Corvallis. What were your impressions when you arrived, of the town?

MY: It's a small college town, actually, 'cause the only thing there was the college. And I don't even remember the town, I don't think we went into town at all, hardly. There was no need for it.

MA: And what classes did you start taking in college and what were you interested in?

MY: I didn't have any idea of what I would go into. Living with the Yokotas, I think she was kind of influencing me. So I majored in home economics at that time and took all the normal subjects that you need to, basic subjects plus things that would lead toward home economics. But, and that's changed over the years. [Laughs]

MA: But in those early years, you were on track to be home economics.

MY: Evidently, yeah.

MA: And the other students at Oregon State College, what were they like and what friends did you have?

MY: We had quite a group of Nisei students from all over Oregon, Portland and all the small towns in between. So we had, I can't imagine, maybe fifteen to twenty maybe, Nisei students. And we used to have, get together socially because, just kind of drawn together, similar interests, families. So that was our, my only social contact. And I made friends that I kept in touch with beyond the college years.

MA: It must have been a change for you to have a, sort of, core group of Niseis around you.

MY: Yes, yes. Not knowing other Niseis prior, you know, it was, I guess it was kind of unique and enjoyable to realize that there were others like me that we could, we had something in common.

MA: And the gender balance within the Nisei group, was it equal men and women or more men?

MY: More men, I think.

MA: So it seems like you must have been one of the few Japanese American women at Oregon State.

MY: Right, yeah. There were very few of us women there at that time.

MA: And how did your interactions, I guess, with the professors and... was it mostly a sort of positive one, or how would you characterize that?

MY: As far as I can remember, I had no problems, and I didn't feel out of place like some people do. So it was a good experience.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright ©2009 Densho and the Twin Cities JACL. All Rights Reserved.