<Begin Segment 12>

FC: How old was your mother when she took her own life?

JA: Oh, she must have been in latter fifty, fifty or probably early sixty.

FC: And the church was a big part of her life.

JA: Yes, because she got, more or less, isolated, you know, the Issei people. They were pretty cruel people. Only had one person she could talk to outside. And she thought, well, she can go to church and have peace there. But she was told not to come anymore.

Male voice: What did you do for a funeral?

JA: Well... what's that?

FC: Was there a public funeral?

JA: Yeah, right, in the No-No Boy. They carried the coffin up the stairs, steep stairs. And the only place, across the street from grammar school, is the Nichiren church.

FC: Was the funeral well-attended?

JA: Yes. She was very helpful to the community, before, and probably not as much. She would help anywhere she's welcome.

FC: How were you treated at the funeral? Did the community continue to shun you?

JA: Well, to me, it was funeral, that's it. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 1993, 2005 Frank Abe and Densho. All Rights Reserved.