Densho Digital Archive
Manzanar National Historic Site Collection
Title: Sumiko Yamauchi Interview
Narrator: Sumiko Yamauchi
Interviewer: Whitney Peterson
Location: Chula Vista, California
Date: July 23, 2013
Densho ID: denshovh-ysumiko_2-01-0029

<Begin Segment 29>

KL: Oh, you said that when you arrived at Manzanar you remember you remember your apartment was unfinished.

SY: All the buildings were unfinished.

KL: Could you describe unfinished? Like was there a roof, or was there...

SY: Oh, okay, okay. [Laughs] Yes, there were roof, there was a floor, there were windows. And but the windows were hammered into the wall, because they were not on the sliding thing, okay. So the wind was so strong that it loosened the nails, it got that strong. And it would rattle real bad. The ceiling had no... we had the roof, of course, it was just that black tarp. And if you poked a hole in, you had a hole. There was no way you could seal that. The wall was all black tar with the main post that was holding it, and the tar. And so if you poked a hole into that black tar, it was outside. So it took a while for them, because people were coming as quick as they could. They had to get the building at least partially built, like the roof, the floor, the walls, and then they would move on to the next to build that. Then we came and we lived in there, and slowly they started fixing the apartment, like putting linoleum on and fixing the windows so it could slide, putting the, what do you call that, that white stuff?

KL: Not plaster, but that sheet rock?

SY: Yeah, and they put that on the sides, so therefore we were insulated to a certain point. And then later on, they put in a big potbelly stove, and we all had a stove in there to keep us warm. 'Cause, you know, it gets pretty cold there at night.

KL: Do you remember the name of your mother's embroidery teacher who taught her?

SY: No. They had so many classes there. After a while it was... once they got going, there was no end to it.

KL: You said you worked in the welfare department. I wonder if you ever ran into a woman named Viola Martinez who was an Owens Valley Paiute woman who was in her early twenties?

SY: No.

KL: What about any other Paiute people?

SY: I don't even know if there were any Paiute...

KL: Or Indian people?

SY: No, not that I know of.

KL: What did the welfare department do?

SY: Well, we had an orphanage, you know. I guess you knew that. The Catholic church took care of that, I think, the nuns.

KL: And the welfare department had a relationship --

SY: Well, that was connected to the welfare department where I worked, and each one had their own little pile or whatever, linoleum. Linoleum, file case.

KL: Did it help people who were trying to get counseling to leave the camp, too? Was that part of what...

SY: No, I don't think so. I don't think so.

KL: So it was more like watching out for neglect or...

SY: It was the welfare of what was going on inside the camp. I think when they said the camp was going to close, they did have a big bulletin, one ad looking for a couple to take care of the service in the house and the landscape or whatever. There was a lot of that. And then there were a lot of... but they would only take a certain, you and your husband, they didn't want any children. We had three, there were three of us, so Seabrook was the only one that we noticed. They would pay our way and feed us, and it sounded good.

KL: Did the welfare department post those ads?

SY: No, no. It could have been a completely different section.

KL: Do you remember... this was a woman who taught physical education, and I think she was also the advisor for the Funsters, someone named Elaine Cleary? She was a Caucasian woman, twenty-two or three.

SY: No. Would she be in my annual?

KL: Maybe. We can look later. I heard that name, the Funsters, and I that was her club, but I'm not sure.

SY: I was wondering that, Funster. That name... was that our name of our club or not? Wee Funster, does that ring a bell?

KL: There was a club called the Funsters, a girl's club.

SY: Okay, all right.

KL: The Miyatake family is important to the history of Manzanar, so I wondered if you would just speak for a couple more minutes about your memories of both Archie and Take, like what their personalities were like, what you remember of them, you were friends with Take, so kind of what you thought of Archie at first.

SY: But, see, they weren't going around. We knew him, they knew us, the Miyatakes, but they weren't going around at that time. She was in my class, he was, Archie was a class above us. But we knew each other, but they weren't going around. And it was after camp that I found out she was going around with him.

KL: Did you think it was a good call?

SY: I thought it was a good call, yeah. Of course, we all thought that he was a good pick. [Laughs] You know, because it was a well-established family, and well-known and well-liked. I don't know, everybody respected him, everybody knew him.

KL: What about, you know, you mentioned it was exciting to be around so many boys. Were there any particular crushes that you had in Manzanar?

SY: No, it wasn't so much the crush, as a boy, it was, "I want to go to that. I want to go to senior prom." I can't go with just anybody because my mother wouldn't let me go with just anybody, they had to know the family. So there was this guy who I told you that we used to teach, to go to the Buddhist church. His mother worked with my mother, so I figured if I can get him to ask me to go to the senior prom, I'm going to go to senior prom. And the funny thing was, I was looking through my annual, my book, and I came across all my little high school things. And I saved, not that he went and bought it, but in those days we didn't have a florist. When we went to the senior prom, all the girls got gardenias, and I pressed it, and I still have it. And I looked at it, it's in this little cellophane bag, and I picked it up and I gently put... and you know, it still smells, the gardenia. I was surprised that it's going to fall apart, and I thought it's going to smell stinky. It had a beautiful gardenia smell, and you know how old that is? Oh god, '45 to now? Yeah, that's a long time.

KL: So he was your prom date?

SY: He was my prom date, yeah. He, "No, I haven't asked anybody." "Well, no one's asked me either," or I can't remember. Anyway, I thought, and we were friends because we were, he was the one that taught us how to jitterbug.

KL: What was his name?

SY: Tsutomu Toma. He passed away.

KL: T-O-M-A? You mentioned the Los Angeles Times discussion of the Manzanar riot. Did you subscribe to the Times?

SY: No, we didn't have the money to subscribe. But we went to the block office and they were, there was always a newspaper there, you could read it there, but you couldn't take it out, but you could read it there.

KL: What other newspapers do you remember?

SY: I can't remember. I think the San Francisco one came, too, but I can't remember. I think L.A. had two papers.

KL: At least.

SY: Yeah. Oh, my gosh, she wrote a lot.

<End Segment 29> - Copyright © 2013 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.