Densho Digital Archive - Bob Fuchigami Interview (denshovh-fbob-01-0028)

<Begin Segment 28>

RP: Let's, let's go in to talk a little bit about the project director, Mr. Lindley.

BF: About what?

RP: The project director at Amache, Mr. Lindley?

BF: Oh, Lindley.

RP: Who was extremely popular with the internees. And maybe you could share some stories about him. Specifically a story that you shared with me about the fact that at one point he was... there was going to be a fence erected between the administration area?

BF: Yeah, when, when these camps were, were planned, they were gonna separate the administration area from the intern or the internee area, and separate them by a fence. Somehow he was able to get that removed from the, from the plan. They did have a military police unit in the camp, so they fenced that section off. But they, they never did build that fence between the administration area and the internee housing area. And he was, he was instrumental in, in that. He was a, some kind of a chemical or metallurgical engineer for some mining outfit out of Arizona. And then worked for the Agricultural Department, U.S. Agriculture. And he was selected to be the project director at, at Amache. And he was the only one. I mean, he was the only project director that Amache had throughout their, throughout its, its existence. And he lived, he and his family, lived in, in Lamar. And then he, he enrolled his daughter in Amache schools. So she was, she was sort of a classmate of ours. She was a year younger than me. I didn't know her in, in camp. But there were, oh, half a dozen of the camp officials who sent their children to, to Amache. There was one that I just, we just had lunch together a week ago. She was the daughter of the superintendent of schools in Amache. Superintendent of schools, they had two, two. One was Terry and he left for the Navy, and then a fellow named Garrison. And Garrison's daughter is still living and lives up in Fort Collins. Married to a guy named Stutheit. I met her at a, at a gathering in, in Granada so we've sort of interacted a couple of times. I was hoping that she would identify some of the people from the photos I have and she said they're all, it's been too long. And she said she had attended for one semester in, in Amache. She would ride with her father into Amache and, in the back seat, and, but her... she had made friends with some others, in, in Lamar and persuaded her father to let her continue in Lamar schools. So, so her experience as a, as a schoolchild in Amache was limited. Now Lindley's daughter, on the other hand, continued on.

RP: Throughout the operation of the camp?

BF: I think so.

RP: Did Lindleys ever move in to Amache and live in the camp?

BF: I don't think so. They did develop some housing for WRA officials and teachers. So some did move into Amache, but into a separate housing area. When they first started, some of the teachers did spend some time in the barracks. There is a gal named Stegner, Catherine Stegner was one. And she's a very good teacher. People still remember her as one of the better teachers at Amache. And we did have, we did have a few others that, that ended up in school administration, higher education and, and Garrison became like a graduate dean, I believe, at Denver University or something like that? So we, we did have some fine teachers. And we did, in 1943, they completed a, a new high school and it became... the high school was probably one of the best facilities in southeastern Colorado. And when the camp closed, they, they took the school and moved it to La Junta.