Densho Digital Archive - Eddie Owada Interview (denshovh-oeddie-01-0022)

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AL: What, what became of your mother? I mean, where did she spend the war? When did you reconnect with her?

EO: Okay, yeah. My brother and his wife went to Japan. It was about 19-, 1970, probably 1975, right in through there. And in Japan he... it was either he or his wife's friend, they ran into her that worked for a telephone company. And her friend made a telephone call all through her mother's prefecture. I forgot which ken it was, maybe Fukuoka, I'm not sure. I have to look on a copy of Mother's birth certificate. Birth certificate or her certificate to come to the U.S. But anyway, it was on there. And located her. A friend that knew her said, "Oh yes, Kikue Goda," -- that was her name -- "lived in Berkeley, California." So when they get back, we got together and talked about it. We didn't want to contact her directly because it might be too much of a shock. She was getting older. So we contacted our oldest half-sister, May. And May lived in, at that time... let's see. She lives now in Oakland, California. She lived in Oakland, too. The other half-sister lives in Berkeley. And she said, came back and said, "Yes, she'll be glad to meet you." So we arranged to have her fly in, May fly in with her. We met right here in Denver at Stapleton airport. Had a little mini-reunion. My other brother John came in from Seattle, Sam lived here, at that time, in Denver. I was here in, I was here in Denver, I guess, yeah. A mini-reunion. Fifty years after she left.

AL: What was that like?

EO: It was great. It was good to see her. We hugged Mom, we talked about various different things, how she was, how we were, what we were doing.

AL: Where did she spend the war?

EO: She spent the war in Topaz. And I don't know where she went after she left camp -- I have to assume this part -- she was living with this sister May. She may have gone back to Oakland, California, with May. Lived with May for a number of years, I don't know how many.

AL: May is, is her sister?

EO: My sister, half-sister.

AL: Okay, so she had other children?

EO: Oh, yeah. Oldest half-sister. And then she went to live with another one of my half-sisters, Haruko. And now Haruko lives in San Leandro. That's where Mother lives.

AL: Is the father of your half-sisters, is that the man that she left your father for? Or is it somebody else?

EO: Oh, somebody else. One of them she lived with and then she married a Kanzaki, which is now her name. Yeah, Kanzaki.

AL: But you said that Toru Saito is also your half-brother.

EO: Uh-huh.

AL: Is that your mother's son?

EO: Yes. Same mother but different father from me.

AL: Okay, so how many children did she have?

EO: Had a total of twelve we found out.

AL: She was busy.

EO: Cheaper by the dozen. One died at birth, so there were eleven. And then several years later, probably been in '30, one of the girls died. So that left ten. And I think all the rest of us, oh, my younger brother, not the youngest, younger brother died, so there's nine of us living now.

AL: Okay. But you're the oldest of her children.

EO: I'm the oldest of all of them.

AL: Can you say the names of her other children? I know it's a lot to keep track of. [Laughs]

EO: No, but I can tell you starting with my youngest brother. Youngest brother is Sam, then half-sister May, then Toru. In between somewhere, Hajime, he was one of the younger ones. Hajime, probably be Kanzaki. Then there was Ben. Ben... Toru, Hajime, Ben... that's probably it.

AL: Do you have contact with them now?

EO: I have contact with May, with Hajime a little bit. He came to John's funeral. Talk with Haruko, 'cause Mom lives with her. Mostly by telephone and Christmas cards, things like that.