<Begin Segment 16>

AL: How come you didn't want to tell Miss Stuart that you were dating boys?

AS: Well, when I was going to the local school she, she would tell other people to kind of spy on me and see if I were going around with any boys.

AL: Uh-huh.

AS: And then when I went to college the same thing. She would say, "Watch out Annie, for Annie and see if she's dating any boys." I guess she was afraid that I would get into trouble into trouble with boys, too.

AL: Uh-huh. Did she know anything about your birth mother's background?

AS: Yes, uh-huh, because they have documents, the county gave her documents.

AL: Do you think that's why she was so worried about you?

AS: I think so, yeah.... a special affinity for me.

AL: Uh-huh. So what did she say when you started dating Douglas? I assume she, she must have known about that.

AS: Oh, yes. Yeah she, she was okay with that 'cause he was Japanese and he was a nice Christian Protestant boy so she let him in the house.

AL: Uh-huh. Did he, did he bond with her?

AS: No, not really. He thought she was a little strange. [Laughs]

AL: In what way?

AS: Like, strict. You know, not like the normal mother. Yeah.

AL: Uh-huh. What is a normal mother anyway?

AS: Well, you know, one that would invite boys in, have dinner ready and talk to them. She didn't talk too much to Doug and he was kind of quiet so he really didn't have too much with her so, as far as bonding with her...

AL: What kind of, did she give you any sort of advice about boys?

AS: Or just don't have sex with them, that's what.

AL: I think all of our mothers tell us that. [Laughs]

AS: [Laughs] Don't ask us before we get married. Because she worried too because my mother had sex with my father and that's why I came.

AL: Right.

AS: And it was kind of unpleasant, a very unpleasant experience.

AL: Do you know -- and I know this is a sensitive question, so feel free not to answer it. But from reading the letters from the WRA to your birth mother, it, it's, I was trying to understand if it was a situation of consensual sex or rape or do you know in... 'cause it, it sounds like it says different things. Do you know what the situation was between your birth parents?

AS: All I know is that he, my father took her home one night and that's when I came along, when it happened.

AL: But you don't know if it was forced or...

AS: I don't know that.

AL: Yeah. You weren't there. Well, you were there but you weren't quite there.

AS: [Laughs] I was just like a twinkle in the sky or something like that.

AL: Yeah. Just a star over the house. Because I saw in the letters where your birth mother talks about it, that it was too painful to recall. And it certainly sounds like it was a difficult situation.

AS: Oh right, huh.

AL: So, other than not having sex with boys, did, did Miss Stuart have any other advice about life and relationships? I mean, did she, how did she help form your view of life? Did she help form your view of life?

AS: No, not really. Just get a good education. Become a nurse or become a teacher, get good grades.

AL: Was she proud that you became a nurse?

AS: Yes. She was proud I became a teacher, too.

AL: And did you end up nursing her later in life?

AS: Well, she, what happened was she broke her hip. And they said that she would never be able to walk because her bones were brittle because of her age. So she never walked again. So I was working full time, had a family, so there's no choice except to put her in a skilled nursing facility. Which was just a mile away from her so I'd go after work, I'd go and see her. In the morning I'd try to feed her, too. But then a massive stroke took her and, and that's what happened. She died.

AL: When did she pass away?

AS: It was 1996.

AL: So it was pretty recent. She was ninety-six years old.

AS: Somewhere, uh-huh.

AL: Yeah. Or about ninety-six years old.

AS: Yeah, uh-huh.

AL: Yeah.

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2009 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.