<Begin Segment 5>
RP: So did you, since you were probably not working on the farm yet, did you have some chances to have some fun around the farm, roam around a little bit, get --
KE: I can't remember because I was (eight years old)... when we got evacuated I was in the third grade. So those are not too vivid memories.
RP: Well I was just wondering if there was a ditch or water hole that you liked to play in?
KE: No, not that I know of.
RP: So where did you attend school?
KE: Prior to World War II it was in Milwaukie grade school or it was called Milwaukie grammar school.
RP: And you went there 'til the third grade?
KE: Third grade, right.
RP: And do you remember any of your teachers or people?
KE: Yeah, there was Miss Barnett the first grade teacher that I remember, she was very good to the Japanese American community. I can't remember the other teachers.
RP: And where was school held? Was it an old style school house?
KE: No, it was regular. In those days probably becomes very modern type of school, I mean it wasn't really that old of a school.
RP: How many students did you have there?
KE: God, I can't remember 'cause we had two grades, two first grade, so you get thirty in a class so that's sixty times six classes so there's about 300, 250 to 300 students.
RP: Good size school.
KE: Yes.
RP: So was Milwaukie at the time that you were growing pretty much a rural area or did it have a --
KE: No, it was really becoming a commuter community, you know, because it's only seven miles south of Portland and they had a street car line that went into Portland so it's....
RP: And what was the makeup of your school, ethnically?
KE: Ethnically, all white, except for a few of us Japanese American, that was it.
RP: That was it?
KE: Yes.
RP: No Hispanics.
KE: No, and there was only one black family at the time but they were much older. But at that time there was no Hispanics either. And also Milwaukie is a good Catholic community and they had a Catholic grade school.
RP: So did you have a religious upbringing at all?
KE: Not as such, we went to a community church right about a quarter mile from us.
RP: Was it a --
KE: It was a non-denominational church. (Minthorn Community Church, still at the same location.)
RP: And did everybody go to that church or was it just --
KE: I think so.
RP: Wasn't just Japanese?
KE: Oh, no, it was more of a... we were probably the only few Japanese people that went to that.
<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2010 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.