<Begin Segment 4>

KO: How did your father get involved in the nursery business?

RO: Well, he was a gardener, so I think it was pretty natural that he wanted to start a business, so that would be pretty much in his line of work. Gardeners had to be quite knowledgeable about plants and shrubs, so through that evolved his interest in the nursery business.

KO: So he was a fisherman and a gardener, but gardening was more profitable.

RO: Correct.

KO: Okay. So he was able to establish a nursery?

RO: Yeah, he wanted to establish a nursery. But in those days it was very difficult because to get shrubs, we used to go, he used to go to Portland wholesale nursery, and to get begonias, we used to go to Santa Cruz, and the bedding plants, he grew a lot of pansies by himself.

KO: So he had to go a long way to get some stock.

[Interruption]

KO: How was your father able to establish the nursery?

RO: My parents wanted to purchase the property, but there was a covenant on the land which stated a non-white could not buy the property. So the McKennas purchased the property and sold it to my parents, that's how they got around the covenant.

KO: And who were the McKennas?

RO: The McKennas were an Irish couple who my dad used to work for. He was an engineer for Union Pacific, and they financed my parents in all their endeavors.

KO: So your father must have really been good friends with Mr. McKenna.

RO: He worked for 'em for quite a while.

KO: As a gardener?

RO: As a gardener, uh-huh.

KO: And do you still keep in touch with them?

RO: Unfortunately they passed away, oh, about thirty years ago.

KO: Did they have any children?

RO: No children.

KO: So once...

RO: But he had a brother. She, Mrs. McKenna had a brother.

KO: Did your father have the same relationship with the brother? A close relationship?

RO: (...) We had a pretty good relationship, but not as good as with Mr. McKenna.

KO: And are they, is the brother still in the area?

RO: He also expired, too.

KO: All right.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2004 Densho and The Japanese American Museum of San Jose. All Rights Reserved.