<Begin Segment 17>

AL: Was she involved in... well, I should back up. You have children, right?

AS: Yes.

AL: How many children do you have?

AS: Well, I have a son that's forty years old and he lives in North Carolina, works for the Bank of America. And our daughter, she's thirty, thirty-nine. And she lives with us.

AL: Okay. And what are their names?

AS: Robert Sakamoto and then Michelle Sakamoto. And she was married but after the divorce she took back her maiden name.

AL: Okay. And was Miss Stuart involved in their lives?

AS: Oh, yes. When they were small she would babysit for them while I was, went to, while I was working. And then she'd take them to the school, to the Bushnell Way school, walk 'em there. And then feed 'em lunch when they came back.

AL: So would you say she was a grandmother figure?

AS: Yeah, yeah.

AL: Uh-huh. Did she teach at Bushnell Way School or a different school?

AS: A different school, Euclid Avenue.

AL: Okay.

AS: That was in East L.A.

AL: When did she retire?

AS: In 1955, 'cause she had to take care of her mother, elderly mother.

AL: Okay.

AS: Yeah, failing health.

AL: Uh-huh. Would you say that, that there was anybody in your life who was a father figure in childhood or at any point that you looked at?

AS: No. 'Cause in the camp we didn't have a father figure. And Miss Stuart's certainly not a father figure.

AL: And she chased all the father figures away.

AS: [Laughs] Yeah, right, yeah.

AL: Did, how do you think that, or, or has it affected the way you look at families?

AS: Well, Doug thought I was a little weird. Because, well, for one thing, I'm kind of a different personality than he is. Like when there's something that has to be done I want it done right away, and organized. And he's kind of more like, takes life easy. Whatever in life, sad, bad, indifferent, he just takes it like it is. So he gets a little taken aback when I want something done like right away. And being in nursing, the decision had to be done right away. And in teaching school, the decisions had to be made right away.

AL: Right. You don't, yeah you don't want a nurse that procrastinates.

AS: No.

AL: That's why I'm not a nurse. [Laughs] All my, all my patients would die.

<End Segment 17> - Copyright © 2009 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.