<Begin Segment 13>

AN: So your parents are both Nisei, and your husband is Nisei, but in very different experiences. Because your parents are some of the older Nisei at least I've known. I know they're not the oldest Nisei, but I think a lot of us think of Nisei as being like your husband's age. But your parents were... they were born in what years?

YN: 1913 and 1916.

AL: Just going back to your folks a little bit, I know, when I first knew them, they were living in Santa Monica. And I know then years later they moved to assisted living. And could you just tell us more about their lives in later years. I know your father continued to paint even after he lost his vision. At least his literal vision, I don't think he ever lost his vision, but his sight, I should say. But could you tell us a little more about the rest of their lives from your perspective, the last years of their lives?

YN: I think my father wanted to die in that house in Santa Monica. He was going to live there 'til the end. And my mother wanted to go to Keiro nursing home or the retirement home first. And finally I think she fell, and when she fell, she was in a convalescent home, and they did not recommend her going back to the home. And so at that point she was discharged to a assisted living facility. And so my father went with her. It was in Yorba Linda, which is close to where I live, and it was quite a distance for my mother's friends in Santa Monica to come, because most of them were older. However, my father's artist friends were quite a big younger, and so they continued to come to see him and to help him paint. And that really kept him alive, because without his art, I think he would not have had a reason to continue.

AL: And he continued his art until the end, did he not?

YN: To the very end, yes. I think the end of 2009, he just felt that that was the time, and he stopped eating and died in January 2010.

AL: And your mom died shortly thereafter, didn't she?

YN: Thirty days later. They were married for seventy-one years.

AL: And did she, had she been ill, or do you think she just decided she was gonna...

YN: She had pneumonia. She got pneumonia, and was not really going to recover. And so we were advised of that, and she had already had DNR for health care, and so we tried to honor that.

AL: What is their legacy to you and your sisters and your brother?

YN: Well, they were very generous people, and sharing, and... you know, my mom's home was always open to everybody. This is hard. And to me, they were my parents. They weren't the artist. I guess their support of what was important to us and the people who were important to us. That's really how I remember them.

AL: I think like many older people, I just knew them at the very twilight of their lives, which is why I wanted to talk to you, we wanted to talk to you because even though they spoke of their own histories, it's different to see it as you remember them, as you knew them. And I think your father especially has such a following, like I said, people are just amazed to be in the space and they hear his voice. Of course, I think, your mom, I thought, was pretty cool too. It is interesting because it's a dual legacy, and the fact that so many people who never met them feel a connection. And I can't tell you how many times that day people said, "We feel like he's here." And some of those were people who never met him. And I just thought that was very interesting.

YN: And the year that he died, 2010, the Manzanar reunion... well, both the Manzanar Committee at the pilgrimage honored him, and the Manzanar reunion committee also chose him to be the person to be honored. And I was really pleased that my son said he would like to do that to get the talk. And the thing he said is, when he opened he said, "I remember my grandmother talking about my grandfather, but my grandmother as being very funny."

AL: I remember that, too. Yeah, she was very funny. I know I asked you what you want to see in Manzanar, I mean like literally what you want to see in Manzanar, but I'd also like to ask, in terms of this history, because these interviews are not so much for us the park rangers as for how we will educate people in years to come, and that is years beyond any of us, National Parks are forever, which is bigger than any of us. But what do you think is most important for people to know or to remember? If you could speak to the future in this moment, what would you want people to know or remember about Manzanar?

YN: That it's part of the American history, and what happened during the war, World War II, to American citizens.

AL: Are there any questions that you guys had that you would like to ask, or any topics? Is there anything, Grace, that I didn't ask you that you would like to share?

YN: No, I think that's...

AL: So on behalf of all of us here, as well as on behalf of the National Park Service at Manzanar, I just want to thank you for, not just for sharing your memories today, but for sharing your parents so generously with the public, with all of us ranger groupies, and I could tell you, they still touch people's lives, even those who did not know or love them, and that is a tremendous legacy. I think with a lot of my Nisei and Sansei friends, I think they are their greatest tribute to their parents. The difference with you is I actually knew your parents. When I think of someone like your husband's age, I didn't know their parents, but I think of who I see and who I know, and I think, wow, they must have had some incredible parents. But yours I can actually vouch for, and I just personally and also professionally just want to thank you. Thank you very much.

YN: Well, I want to thank you, too, for getting all these oral histories and giving an opportunity, especially when so many of the internees are dying, that you get their story. And I'm sorry you don't have my parents, their oral history as you would have liked to, but I appreciate this opportunity. Not so much because I think I have so much to offer, but hopefully I can say I did this an encourage other people to do it.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 2013 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.