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KL: But did you two meet when you were both living in West Los Angeles?

MT: In high school.

KL: Oh, okay.

MT: He was a junior... no, were you a sophomore?

MJT: Yes. Mary came from junior high school to University High School.

MT: In 1938, I think it was.

MJT: And I was a year ahead of her.

KL: And you were what?

MJT: One year ahead of her in school. Came in as a freshman, and I was a sophomore.

MT: So we knew each other from 1939.

KL: And did you meet right away, the beginning of that year?

MJT: Well, the story goes that our friend and I were just hanging around at lunchtime when this girl came running up the steps. And I said to George, "Hey, did you see her?" I said something like, "I got to get to know her." And that's how it all began. And eventually we began to date in high school. Eventually I got to know the family, and by the time we were graduating from high school, we were going pretty steady, I guess, as they say. So that's been since our wedding was in ('43)...

MT: No, '43.

MJT: '43, that's been over sixty-nine years, this year. Of course, I've known her longer than that, since before... '39?

MT: I guess I was sixteen.

KL: Did he just find you and strike up a conversation?

MT: Oh, I can't remember now. There were dances, school dances, and we began attending them with our friends eventually. My family was a church family, Christian Protestant church family, and so his folks also were Protestant, and he began going to Young People's and we met. And I went to the same Young People's group. And so that's how we...

KL: How was University High? What were your impressions of your time at University High?

MT: We were both very active. He was active in managing sports, basketball and baseball.

MJT: Yeah, Uni High was very active in school. Did a lot of activities, sports-wise and well as academics and after school activities. They also had a very strong, well, in college they call it ROTC, reserve unit, and they had a training program for young men who were interested in that aspect of life. So Uni High was pretty well-known among the high schools. I think well-respected for its academic...

MT: It also was a school where the children, actually youth who were in the movies had to have tutors there, but they had to graduate from public high school. And so many... Judy Garland graduated in his class, and Linda... what was her name?

MJT: Linda Darnell.

MT: Linda Darnell was in my class, but they never, the movie stars never went and actually attended class, but they did have to attend the graduation ceremony. So every year there was always one or two students who were movie stars.

KL: Signing autographs? [Laughs]

MT: And would have to attend the ceremony. So it was known as the school for movie stars to graduate from.

KL: Was it a pretty diverse school as far as economics or ethnic background?

MT: It was a diverse school. It wasn't as ethnically represented by black Americans, by African Americans, but there was a strong Hispanic and a strong Asian, and mainly Caucasian, but we did have...

MJT: It was basically a middle class school. The parents of all the young people were mostly in kinds of work that would, you'd call blue collar work. But with the exception of the movie stars that graduated, it wasn't overly wealthy, but it was a very strong, I would say, middle class school. And the kids came from basically all walks of, different aspects of life. So it was a good mixture when it came to interaction between the students, and the activities that were provided.

KL: Was that new for you? Was your middle school or your elementary school also a mix of people or was it largely Japanese American?

MJT: Well, in Sawtelle, Sawtelle had a large population of gardeners who were Japanese as well as fruit stand workers who were mostly Japanese. Because of that, University High School had an Asian representation of young people in the high school. That was my experience at Uni High. I don't know, in elementary school, I went to elementary school in northern California, so I don't know what the circumstances were. But as far as Uni High was concerned, I felt that it was a mixture of, much a middle class school.

KL: Did people kind of choose friends based on individuality or on commonalities? Did people cross groups, ethnic groups? Was it easy to do, or did people kind of keep to themselves at Uni High?

MJT: Well, I think we had cross groups of friends at school, but after school was over, everybody went to their so-called separate places, and there would then be no interaction there, other than your own groups of people that you live with and so on. But in the school campus, I think the interaction was among everybody. But when the school bell rang, everybody went home, everybody went their different places. Their activities were governed by the local communities, Japanese language school, or church functions, Buddhist temple functions, so on, those which were basically a tribute to the people who lived in that community. We had that interaction, and then we had basically also the traditional community of the people who lived, ethnic groups that lived in those communities.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2012 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.