Densho Digital Archive - June T. Watanabe Interview (denshovh-wjune-01-0012)

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KL: You were speculating back to Rohwer about the length of time that you had certain jobs and stuff. How long were you in Rohwer, when did you leave?

JW: I left on, about the 24th of January, '44. So that didn't leave me in camp too long, about a couple years, two years.

KL: Yeah, year and a half. Why did you leave?

JW: Because I got married.

KL: Who did you marry?

JW: Richard. We were corresponding and he was in the army stationed in Camp Savage in Minnesota. And he asked me and I said, "Yeah." I was getting tired of camp life, too. [Laughs] But I knew there was security, and he was just that type of a person, you knew that he'd do anything to keep you happy. That's why I left camp. And I even had a shower before I left. I guess we didn't go shopping, but I think the girls, through catalogs, Sears catalog and everything, towels, got a lot of towels, or guest towels, I still have some.

KL: That's nice. Where was the shower?

JW: I think we had it in the office. I think it was in the office, but that was nice.

KL: Was there anything difficult about leaving Rohwer, or was it all...

JW: Oh, I was sad, of course, especially with your parents, you know, didn't want to leave them. But I guess that's what marriage is about, leave your own parents. And I had no inkling of what I was going to do, but luckily there's a place in the outskirts of Minnesota, Minneapolis, a place called Bloomington, near the Masonic Home, a family by the name of Lee, Roger C. Lee was his name. They had a live-in domestic worker and she was a wife of one of the soldiers. And she was pregnant, so she was going to leave, and she wanted to know if I would want the job, and I said, "Yeah, I need a job." So that's where I went. Very beautiful, very nice, in the country. It was then in the country. And Camp Savage was right below, so on Wednesdays he would get a ride from Mr. Lee who worked down at the tool company, Savage Tool Company, which is right next to, near the camp. So he'd bring Richard up, and then in the morning he'd take him down. And then on weekends, I had every other weekend, so that's where I worked for quite a while.

KL: What was the reception from others like in Bloomington?

JW: Nice, everybody was so nice. Yeah, and the Masonic Home is where I caught the bus. And you know, while waiting there, we became friends with a lot of the older people. I enjoyed it. But on winter days it was cold, had to walk with your stadium boots, it was really different.

KL: You remember I told you on the phone that one of my colleagues is from Bloomington? And when I got off the phone she said, "You have to ask her what Bloomington is like, I can't even imagine Bloomington existing in the '40s."

JW: Yeah, oh, it was a one horse town. There was a gas station there and a little, like a mama and papa grocery store. It was really small. Before you knew it, you were out of it. But now, yeah, we went there in '87, thought we'd take a look at where I used to live, entirely different. Homes, Bloomington, and that house of ours, it was right on the bluff there, and it's still there. But the fields and all that are all residential area now. Yeah, I loved it there, I liked the four seasons in Minnesota.

KL: And you said your employers were the Lees?

JW: The Lees, the Roger C. Lees. That was... you know, when we moved back here, they came by here once, he wanted to bring his wife here. It was sad to see her, 'cause I thought, well, gee, we used to hug each other and greet each other. They went on this Hawaiian cruise, and then they went back home, and soon after that she passed away. But she had Alzheimer's. I used to think so much of Mrs. Lee because she was young, she was bright, she's a Wesleyan graduate, really bright, really thrifty. That's where I learned how to be thrifty, with every little... well, it was during the war, too, and things were rationed, you know. But she would save every little thing, and then on Fridays we'd have leftovers, and she'd fix 'em so they were very attractive, and I enjoyed that. I learned a lot from her, I really did. But now, she wasn't herself then, that was sad to see.