Densho Digital Archive - Tom I. Mine Interview (denshovh-mtom

<Begin Segment 8>

TI: Let's talk a little bit about school. So what, what elementary school did you go to?

TM: Well, the buildings were on Main Street, I mean East Lake Avenue. The old grammar school and the old, two, grade school, grammar school, then I went to high school, the building's still there. I mean, it changed around, the old buildings are gone, burned down. And since those days, that was in 1936 I went to -- no, '32. '33 I went to high school.

TI: So this is the Watsonville High School?

TM: Watsonville High, I graduated in '36.

TI: And back in those days, when you think about your classmates, at Watsonville, how many were Japanese American?

TM: We had pretty... let's see. I would say twenty percent.

TI: Okay, about, so one in five would be Japanese?

TM: Five, or maybe a little bit more in some classes. I mean, some years there were more.

TI: And in general, how did the Japanese students do in school?

TM: Oh, they all did real well. They're always high-ranking, or in my class, I think they were the valedictorians of the class. I was upper ten, at least I made ten percent.

TI: So you were a good student.

TM: Well, my folks told me to study, you know, do your work.

TI: And so in general, the Japanese tended to be on the upper end of the, of the...

TM: Yeah, they were, all the years, most of the years in Watsonville, the Japanese student were the top students.

TI: And then in sports they would do pretty well, too.

TM: Well, yeah, they did well, because we had, luckily we had 130s, you know, and varsity, well, my brother is a bigger fellow, so he played varsity football.

TI: And he was, I'm sorry, your older or younger brother?

TM: Younger.

TI: Younger brother. And that was, what was his, your younger...

TM: Bill. He was two years younger than me.

TI: So they were, did well in sports, they did well in school, how about like student body positions? Were there very many Japanese who ran for office?

TM: Yeah, they were partly, you know, I held student body on the, my year.

TI: And so what position did you hold?

TM: No, well, I was the editor, well, I liked to write. I was the editor of the book, help.

TI: Of, like, the school annual? That book?

TM: Yeah, yeah, that book.

TI: Oh, that's, I'll have to find it. I'd like to see what that looked like.

TM: [Laughs] I don't know if you can find the book. I may have one left, I'm not sure.

TI: So high school was a pretty fun time for you.

TM: Well, yeah, I enjoyed going to school because it was fun and it wasn't hard. I, they told me, "What you gonna do after you get out? What you gonna major in?" I said, "Well, right now I think I'm gonna go to school and help my dad farm." That's the only, we already purchased a farm, so I said, "I don't think I have any inkling of going, further my education," so I said, "Well, long as I get my grades and graduate, I guess that'd be it." And I went to work right away after I graduated.

TI: But there were, it sounds like there were some teachers or others who encouraged you to think about college? Was that...

TM: Well, no, I just told them exactly what my situation was, so I said, "I'm the oldest son and we purchased some property, and then my dad's getting too old to continue taking care of the ranch." And he didn't drive the automobile, so any tractor, so I had to continue the, to carry on my folks' business, well, farming.

TI: So that, that makes sense. But were there times, though, that you had, perhaps, dreams of going to college and doing something else?

TM: Well, not exactly. I think I was pretty much set because I knew my, I had to take my dad's place. So pretty much said, "Well, I'll just go ahead and get the grades and graduate and go to work. "