Densho Digital Archive
Manzanar National Historic Site Collection
Title: Dorothy Kuwaye Interview
Narrator: Dorothy Kuwaye
Interviewer: Richard Potashin
Location: Los Angeles, California
Date: May 13, 2010
Densho ID: denshovh-kdorothy-01-0003

<Begin Segment 3>

RP: Now, you were roughly about eighteen months old when, when you had a, when you were...

DK: Run over. I was run over, yeah, at eighteen months old.

RP: Uh-huh.

DK: And, I guess they were, I was taken to Covina hospital for care. And Sachi was the only one who was old enough to speak. Maybe she was only ten.

Off Camera: Nine, yeah.

DK: Ten... no, you were a little older than that I guess.

[Interruption]

DK: Let's see, where were we?

RP: Dorothy, you were sharing with us some of...

DK: Oh yeah, I was run over when I was eighteen months. And the Lanfears used to come and buy produce from my parents. They had a roadside stand and they would see me and I wasn't able to walk. I was just crawling around on the ground most of the time I guess. And so she, Mrs. Lanfear took pity on me and they asked if they could take, they asked my parents if they could take me to the orthopedic hospital in Los Angeles. And they, parents agreed to that. So she took, took me there and then they decided that I needed some surgeries on my hips and that's what, and then I guess the doctor had said that there were too many kids running around, that I wouldn't get the rest that I needed at home. So Mrs. Lanfear decided that she would take me. And they took me into their home and raised me as, as their own practically.

Off Camera: You, you were in a full-body cast too. So...

DK: Well, not, not full-body. From the waist down, all the way to my toes and so on. But, that, that was the first of, I guess, three or four surgeries that I had on my hips. That, she took care of me all this time. And of course Mr. Lanfear did all the lifting and so on. And even as I got bigger and heavier he was able to -- he was a big man -- so he was able to transport me around and this and that. So, they really took good care of me.

RP: Who paid for the surgeries?

DK: Well, I guess it was on welfare, but I don't know. I don't think they, they did. They took care of my everyday needs but it was on Medi-Cal huh? Whatever was Medi-Cal?

RP: Whatever it was at the time.

Off Camera: I don't think they had Medi-Cal at the time.

DK: Well, they had something though that...

Off Camera: Yeah, some kind of social service.

DK: Yeah.

RP: Some type of assistance.

DK: Yeah. Right, right.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2010 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.