<Begin Segment 19>

KL: And I don't want to neglect your, mentioning your family, too. Tell us how you and your wife met.

RF: Well, my wonderful wife Mary, we've been married for fifty-six years. Is that right, fifty-six? Almost fifty-seven. And we met, we lived a block away from each other when we were, when I was going to USC living in Mrs. Takimoto's boarding house, and Mary's family had just returned from camp and were (temporarily) housed at the church, United Methodist Church of West Los Angeles. And shortly after that, they found a house close by. So we were neighbors but didn't know each other until she walked by my boarding house. And typical of a young male, I hailed her and said, "What's your name?" and that started a beautiful friendship. And we have one son, his name was Mark.

KL: And he works for a company that I think I've used the products of.

RF: Pardon?

KL: You said he works for a company whose products I think I rely on a lot when hiking.

RF: Oh, yes, yes. He's a technical representative for a company called Super Feet. He's been covering all of Southern California helping stores to educate them on the virtues of Super Feet as well as the medical personnel, because it's a wonderful product. I feel like I'm making a pitch now for them. So he's been with them for five years, wonderful product.

KL: And he's here in Southern California with you guys?

RF: He lives in Fountain Valley.

Off camera voice: He's a Kings fan.

KL: Yeah, he might see this tape, so if there's anything defining, you need to mention.

RF: Oh, yeah, he's an ardent Kings fan, and he and his girlfriend were in Japan for two and a half weeks while the Kings were having their finals with New Jersey. But because the Kings lost the last two games, he was able to see the final game and attend the ceremonies, the victory ceremonies a couple days after that.

KL: Well, that is my list. Thank you very much for joining us. I wanted to see if there was anything that I didn't ask about though that you would like to mention.

RF: Well, I covered a lot of ground. There's a lot of my life still that's, I guess, untouched. I don't know from now if there are any highlights, but I thank you very much.

KL: I think you've done an excellent job of summarizing it, and I liked being able to hear your comparisons of different times and places. Thank you very much for participating, selfishly, for me, because it's great to get to hear from your firsthand. But on behalf of Manzanar, too, we value these interviews a great deal.

RF: Unfortunately my life in Manzanar was very short, but it was a very memorable one, both on the plus side and the minus side. Plus side being the friends that I developed in Manzanar, minus side is the uncertainties one finds sometimes in life, not knowing where they're headed. But being young, I guess, you always work your way through that. But I thank you very much for the interview.

KL: Well, thank you.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 2012 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.