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RP: And you were sharing some stories about gardens and things like that. Did you, do remember some of the folks who lived in your barrack, your neighbors? Did you have other people from Sawtelle? You mentioned there was another couple that...
DI: Yeah. Well, this family, the Nishikawa family.
RP: Nishikawa?
DI: Nishikawa. Their father and his father were the ones that started the Buddhist Temple. And the last of the Nishikawa boys died Christmas Eve. I called him two days before Christmas Eve in San Jose, and I said, "I'm not calling to wish you Merry Christmas, but let's stay healthy through 2008." He died Christmas Eve. And there's a stucco house about three doors down, the father built that house in early '20s, and he and my husband's father are the ones who established the Buddhist Temple. All five boys are gone, and they, the son that just died, he's the one that stayed, he and his wife. And his wife's younger sister is Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, that wrote the book Farewell to Manzanar.
RP: The younger sister?
DI: Yeah, the younger sister. I have the, she autographed the book for me. She was my flower girl when I, when we got married.
RP: She was?
DI: Uh-huh. And her sister, the one that lives in San Jose, she was my matron of honor. So, in fact, the Wakatsuki family were, they lived in Venice, and we lived in Ocean Park. So we kind of grew up with them.
RP: With them. Yeah, they were there, they were there for a while and I think they moved to Terminal Island later on.
DI: Well, one of the... which one was it? Martha? Her husband grew up in Terminal Island.
RP: Yeah, she talks about her dad being a fisherman and going out, and then...
DI: And he as an Issei, first generation.
RP: Yeah, he was taken away.
DI: But the mother was Nisei, I think.
RP: She was, yeah.
DI: They had, what, ten children? When I can't sleep, I start naming them. To this day, I still can't remember whether it was Woody or Bill that was older. [Laughs]
<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2008 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.