<Begin Segment 24>

MM: Let's go back to your undergraduate days at UH because I think we missed a very important part of your life, which was when you -- you already knew her, but you married Mildred Doi.

RK: Oh.

MM: Tell us a little bit about Mildred and how you met her.

RK: Well, she was, she was a, she was a class above me and she was in the... and so I met her in student government. She was active.

MM: At, in high school or in college?

RK: At the university, I met her -- and she's a Kauai girl.

MM: I see.

RK: So I met her at the university when I got there as a freshman. And although she was a class above me, we were the same age, because I found out later that she had skipped a grade in elementary school, she was so, she was such a good student. And it was nice. We had a lot of the same courses, and she would study much harder. She went to every class, which I didn't do. So I used to take advantage of her notes and everything else. But any rate, we got to know each other. And we really got to know each other on this, and I told you that we spent a day, we devoted a day to the war effort while we were in school. So she and I, as part of the student activity, I think I sat at the same, were assigned to the same table to assign the workers for the pineapple fields, or whatever it was. So, of course, we sat there and got to know each other. And so we found a lot in common. And so when I got in the army she was my girlfriend, so I corresponded regularly with her. So when I got out we got together, and before long, she was already teaching, but luckily she was assigned to a school in Honolulu so I could see her at least on the weekends. And eventually we got married before I went on to my graduate work. In fact, I got married before... I got back from the service, and my friends who were back earlier said, "Hey, the student body elections are coming. We're gonna put your name up for president." I said, "Look, I'm just back. I don't know if I have enough credits." But they checked with the registrar and because I had taken a big load as a freshman and some as sophomore, and I got points for being in the army, whatever it was, anyway, they declared me eligible, anyway. So I ran for office and got elected student body president. So I was really, in a way, it was just in my advanced junior year. And so I got married right after that because my so-called senior year was, I was sort of a part-time student, just had to have a few more credits to graduate.

<End Segment 24> - Copyright © 2004 Japanese American National Museum. All Rights Reserved.