<Begin Segment 19>

Off camera: Where did you meet your wife? When did you marry?

TF: Well, see, that's another story. Do I dare? Well, she and I were in the same class, the class of '44. The only difference though was I was in Idaho a lot, and I came back, and I was working on this senior project in journalism, and so I arranged for all of the seniors, when they take their pictures and everything, and I got to know the photographer, Toyo Miyatake, real well, and the students. And so after we graduated, there was a sort of a carnival or affair type of stuff, and I was asked to join that. And she was there, and so even though we were classmates, we met for the first time there. And so nothing happened, and so I went to, went into the service, and I kind of wrote to her, and so what? So when I came home in January on the furlough before I was going to go overseas, I decided, well, it's the last night, so I better at least go to say hello to her, because I didn't really know her. And so I go there about eight o'clock, and she's already in bed. But her mother wakes her up, and she comes out, we traded tidbits and whatever. And the only thing I remember from that is she tells me her mother says, "It's sad that such a young boy is going to go to war," and so that was it. And when I was in Hood, I wrote her a letter. And then she tells me later on that, she wonders if the answer took over a week, because she didn't know if she should. And then she decided, well, he's not really a bad guy, so she did. And therefore we started to correspond. And while I was in Italy, we corresponded, and it's amazing how I think everybody ought to get to know each other by writing each other, because you get to know each other so well. At least to me it did, because when I'm ready to come home, technically, we're in such a position where we're ready to be engaged without even having a first date. And so we come home, and then I tell her, "I got this four years of college, and I think I better start trying for it." And so I told her I'm going to go to Drake, and she's willing for that. And then after that, one year, I transferred to university, so she could be there. And so, then Kennecott goes on strike, and her father and brother works there, and so their income drops. And so they asked if they could postpone getting married. And so you say sure, because we come from the same kind of cultural background. And I think this helps, because we waited. Well, it also helps that her mother and father thought I was a pretty nice guy, because they protected her from others when others used to come, sort of like seeing if the daughter's available for someone else to be married. And they watched out for me. But the whole idea is that we were then able to get married.

And that I think I mentioned that after a couple of years, we were having our first child, and I was getting my bachelor's degree, my father informs us that he's getting laid off because he's getting too old for them now. And so without really blinking an eyelash, she says they're welcome to come stay with us. And this is unusual. And so she calls them, and they come over. And that was the best thing that ever happened, because my mother had a hard life. And since my wife speaks real good Japanese, she was able to converse with them like no one else. And with a child being born, now there's a grandma who would be able to do things and make grandma feel good, because grandma doesn't know anything about kids either. And so the mother telling the grandma, you can punish the kid and all that, but grandma's not going to do it. But the whole idea is that there's a new relationship here. And then we find out my mother never hated the ice cream. [Cries] And so the whole thing changes and spin, when she got ready to die. She had a heart attack which looked like indigestion. And we took her to the hospital and they said it was a heart attack, and then she ended up with heart failure. And I guess she knew she was going to die, but she wrote a letter to her, to my wife, written in elementary Japanese, thanking her for everything. So that's how it came about that, how we met, strangely, how our courtship went, it's strangely, how the fortunes of war brought everything together as if it's... you just can't read anything like this in a textbook, because nobody will believe it. Because this is all fairy tale, it fits in.

And then it fitted in because a minister's wife asked us if we would host a student from Japan, sister-city thing. And so that sort of opened up a way for us to host the sister cities, because I moved to Medford, and then I moved back. And at that time I asked if they needed us to help out. And the gal said, no, they don't need this because we don't have any kids. But then one of the Japanese guys from the chamber of commerce came over and said, "Is there any chance of hosting us again? And so we found out the gal who was handling it is different from the gal in the city who handles the student portion of it. So we contacted her, and ever since then, we were hosting the adults. Usually the chamber of commerce, or a schoolteacher, or the travel bureau. And since she was able to speak Japanese and cook Japanese, in those early days, seemed like we were getting older people, maybe in their fifties or sixties. And they kind of have old fashioned ways, so they liked you if you fixed whatever they like. And so this is it. But because we did that, they started staying with us, and then everybody's getting younger and we're getting older, the tide changed because the new kids wanted to cook for us. And this worked out pretty good. And the best time that she ever had was a few years ago when a lady who worked there was assigned to come with the students, and she stayed with us. And I think my wife really liked that, because it must have reminded her of the child that we lost at childbirth from orthomitosis. And it's real nice, because when they go home, they keep in contact. Everything works out right. Even now, even though I'm a retired doctor, when I was again retired, my wife says, "It's time you got a physical." And I told her, "No, I don't need to," because a friend of mine, bacteriologist, who retired, decided that he'll volunteer for the physical at the University of Colorado, and they found out more diseases in him than he would care about, which he died from. Well, in my case, they checked me over and found diabetes and high blood pressure and cholesterol and everything, and then later on I decided, gee, I like a little cigar. In the army, we never had cigarettes, because -- this is off kilter? Well, normally speaking, you used to sell on the black market, the cigarettes. And the thing is, after it got to be twenty-five dollars a carton, it just wasn't worth it. But then the cigars and stuff were, nobody wanted it, and so I tried it. The first one knocked me for a loop, but then after that, you try and get more selective. Well, by the time I'm getting retired, the doctor used to ask my wife, "Is he still smoking cigars?" And she would then answer. Well, after she passed away three and a half years ago, he has no one to ask. So I told him that I'm still smoking my cigar. And he says, "I'm not going to tell you anything because you can do whichever you like. It's not going to shorten your life." After all, at eighty-five, I'm living past what I'm expected anyway. So I have fun with him.

KP: We need to end up here, and I have one more question. It sounds like Manzanar was kind of a catalyst of change, not just your life, but your parents' life.

TF: Manzanar really changed everybody's life. When I look back, there is no pre-Manzanar to me. Everything is post-Manzanar. That all of the friends and acquaintances that I know of are related after Manzanar or through Manzanar. And so all of our activities even... well, maybe because we became adults, our outlooks changed and everything. I don't think I'd enjoy living in L.A. anymore, if it was the same condition. And being adult, I don't have any real desire to still live there, although most of these people seem to be from that area. But being Block 5 people, they still remember us. And I think it's a good feeling.

KP: Well, on behalf of myself and the National Park Service and myself, thank you very much for taking time to interview with us.

FT: Well, I'm not sure if I did anything other than the fact that that's the way it was, at least from my eyes. If there was something that I could do a little differently, I sure would, which is try to find Ms. Goldberg and say thanks. That if I was out of hand, I really didn't mean to. And to the retired teacher in Paradise, that I'm sorry I never got there to see her.

KP: Well, this is now part of the archive for the Park Service, and maybe someday somebody will be going through that and say, "I know who that person is, or I know the family." So you've put that legacy out there. And thank you, thank you very much.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 2011 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.