Densho Digital Archive
Manzanar National Historic Site Collection
Title: Sumiye Takeno Interview
Narrator: Sumiye Takeno
Interviewer: Richard Potashin
Location: Denver, Colorado
Date: July 5, 2008
Densho ID: denshovh-tsumiye-01-0021

<Begin Segment 21>

RP: Well Sumi, I want to just kind of... we kind of left your family in camp. And I kind of want to backtrack and kind of follow them in their, their process of resettling. So, they... did the rest of your family all move to Los Angeles after Manzanar?

ST: Yes, uh-huh. They all did.

RP: And they settled in west Los Angeles?

ST: West Los Angeles.

RP: I think you said that your, a couple of your brothers became gardeners in west Los Angeles?

ST: Yes. They did.

RP: And your father helped them.

ST: Yeah. My father helped them. And so now I guess they're retired or they're gone.

RP: They stayed in the Los Angeles area...

ST: Uh-huh.

RP: ...the rest of their life.

ST: I don't know what Leo and Sei do now.

RP: Leo and George?

ST: Uh-huh.

RP: I think they go fishing.

ST: I guess they're all retired now.

RP: Uh-huh. I met George at a, I think one of the Manzanar pilgrimages a couple a years ago. And he came, he came up because he heard that the Florin group was coming to a pilgrimage there. And so he joined, joined the pilgrimage.

ST: So you know my brother?

RP: Yes, I know him. I met George there and then I met Leo at a high school reunion at Manzanar. Hopefully they'll both be at the reunion in, I think it's October.

ST: Which reunion?

RP: The Manzanar High School reunion.

ST: Oh, high school reunion. Are they meeting in Manzanar?

RP: No.

ST: No?

RP: Oh, no. It's always Las Vegas.

ST: Oh, Las Vegas. [Laughs] Of course.

RP: Yeah, you know, there's a lot more action, there's a lot more action in Las Vegas than there is at Manzanar. It's just the camp, but...

ST: Oh, I've been to Las Vegas a couple of times.

RP: So, did you get a chance... would you go down to Los Angeles to visit your family?

ST: Not lately. I haven't been back for about four or five years.

RP: But early on, you were visiting and...

ST: Yes, if I do, I'll be visiting over there. But, somehow I started my dizziness and so if I'm traveling alone and if that starts I would be in, have a problem. So I kind of have been staying home, closely to home right now.

<End Segment 21> - Copyright © 2008 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.