Densho Digital Archive - Ann Sugimoto Interview (denshovh-sann-01-0034)

<Begin Segment 34>

RP: How long did you spend in Ohio?

AS: Ten years. They were gonna tear it down, so we had to come back. Time to come back because we got to know this fellow, Mr. MacMill. My husband worked for him, a little plastic. And his family, his family was the, they originated... what's that? Oberlin College. And so -- but he moved to Oberlin -- and he said, "If you stay here long enough that your daughter's going to college, she could get into Oberlin." Heck, I wouldn't want to live in that town. I mean, it's a little town. It's a nice town, but not like for me. It's cold, too. But said, "Your daughter could get a scholarship to Oberlin College." Heck, I can get here and go to state college, so that's what we planned, to come back here and our kids went to state college and universities. But see, back there it would've been very expensive. He said my daughter could go to Oberlin College. I says heck, I wouldn't want to live there in Oberlin. [Laughs]

RP: But you moved back to the Venice area?

AS: Yeah, right here.

RP: Right here.

AS: This year we've been here fifty-two years. Fifty-two years.

RP: What did it look like after, after you got back how had it changed?

AS: Well, no farms. But all the farmers, they were doing gardening and putting their kids through school, and all their kids all went to college, too. Our friends, they were farmers. They couldn't do it because they had to make a living, but all their kids... so my kids had real nice friends all through... this used to be all down this... I think my husband was the last of the old person to live, he lived so long, but we're the old timers here now. The lady across the street, her husband died, but she lived here longer than us. But all our friends Japanese people down the line, down past the way. They were much younger than Dan. We came back to our spot and then... but parents all did well. I mean, they went into gardening, 'cause what else could they do to, they have to... and all their kids, too. They were smart kids, too. They all went to college and they're all doing well.

RP: Your, when did your parents come back to, from Blackfoot, Idaho?

AS: Oh, they came, they came back pretty... I don't know. They came soon as they let them.

RP: They were allowed back into California.

AS: Yeah, my father would... like I said, my father was... well, I guess he was early sixty. He was pretty young. So he and my mother were gonna drive back from Idaho, so he can, carried a couple of cans of gasoline because he said along the way some old towns, they were kind of prejudiced. So he was ready. He had his gasoline, came all the way from Blackfoot, Idaho. And my mom's, see, my mom didn't drive in those days, I guess. I said, "Mom, see, trouble you didn't learn to drive. You shoulda drove." So he got kind of sick on the way, in the desert, so they parked, I think, side of the road and so next, my mom said she was kind of worried there. But he got okay. Next day they drove back there and everything was okay. But see, some places, they still were kind of hostile. Isn't that something? But when they come back here, California, well, everything's okay. See, California is close to the Pacific and all that, but... I mean here, but up north they were kind of hostile. Some of the, my brother's friends said their, somebody burned one of their houses or something, I don't know. But here, we were okay.

RP: You saw a distinctive change in attitude when you came back from Ohio?

AS: No, it was all friendly. I lived in this right here area. They were all, really all friendly. We didn't have people to... and all the farmers were back again, but they were all doing gardening or something, and they got jobs in other places. The ones that had college education, at least right away, Douglas and TRW and places hired them because they got the brains, they found out. They said, "What a difference."

RP: And your sister got hired, too.

AS: Oh, yeah. She worked in Inglewood first, and then she got hired. And her friends all, the ones that, younger than her... but they got all hired back. They needed good teachers and they're good teachers. Every place, they found out in shops, too. The people are, they are smart and they're... my girlfriend, too, she worked, she was a lead lady. They found out the Japanese ladies -- not me, but I mean... they're really, they really could... right now the Chinese ladies and Vietnamese ladies, really smart. I know my, my... what is it? My grandson's wife, she's, she's from Vietnam. I think she's originally, she said her father was Chinese, from China. She got a really good job in software, and my grandson -- 'course, they're into computers and all. They were the early graduates of... you know. But they both are in... and they like them. They're that, mathematically kind of...