<Begin Segment 6>

KL: Tell us more about your schools.

RF: My what?

KL: Your schools that you went to, the Emerson junior high school...

RF: Well, as I said, went to Sawtelle grammar school, which is now called Nora Sterry. In fact, I don't even know, is Nora Sterry still open?

KL: Oh, I've read that it was a retirement home, I think, for a little while.

RF: It is?

KL: I think.

RF: So no longer a grade school?

KL: Maybe, I'll have to check. But I've seen somebody else talk about that in one of their interviews.

RF: But that's where I attended school, grammar school. And Nora Sterry was the principal at that time, she was a large woman, and would always chase us boys out of the bathroom, because that's where we were playing and monkeying around. [Laughs]

KL: Did you shoot things at the ceiling?

RF: We did all kinds of bad things.

KL: But she was pretty... she knew how to handle?

RF: Yeah, yeah. But I think very nice at the same time.

KL: Had she been principal there for a long time?

RF: As far as I... as long as I can remember. One of my classmates there, interestingly enough, he lived in Sawtelle, he was a Caucasian guy that lived in Sawtelle. His name was Mel Patton, he turned out to be an Olympic sprint champion. So that was quite a famous guy that came out of Sawtelle.

KL: Yeah. It sounds like sports were pretty big in your childhood.

RF: Well, yes. My brother loved sports and I loved sports. He excelled at it, I was kind of mediocre.

KL: He played baseball, right?

RF: He was a city all-star baseball player.

KL: What do you remember about that circuit and those games? Were they popular?

RF: Well, he was an avid baseball player, very... he was very disciplined at trying to develop his skills. And I had to be his pigeon. [Laughs]

KL: What is your difference in age?

RF: Four years. So in high school, while he was in high school, I was in junior high school. But he pitched our fence in the backyard, I had to pitch to him.

KL: And then get out of the way. [Laughs]

RF: And get out of the way. That ball used to come back so fast. [Laughs] And ultimately I became a reasonably good fielder, but a terrible hitter, and he became a good all-around baseball player to the point of being selected as a city all-star player. That was his love.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2012 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.