<Begin Segment 3>

RP: You said your mother worked at the Inyo store.

PF: Uh-huh.

RP: Tell us a little bit about that, that business.

PF: That was, it was a dry goods, materials and I think she had clothing for women, mostly for women. And I remember the walk out to the restrooms and they were more like outhouses. But it was a wooden walk. And all of the floors in the building were wood. And at one time I remember them sending the money, put it in a tube, and it went up, up to the upstairs to the office, up a tube. And then they had the same thing at the Penney's. (...) Mom's boss was Mrs. Clemmons. And she was, she was so good to Mom. She let Mom work just about any hours that she could get there and was glad to have her help I'm sure. So, that's what I remember about the Inyo store.

RP: Do you, do you recall your mother always working?

PF: Pretty much, yes. Doing something or other. Sales, mostly. And during the war she was, she was with the, oh what do you call the, the, where the soldiers and sailors came?

RP: USO.?

PF: USO, yeah. She worked with the USO while my dad was in the service.

RP: Where was that located?

PF: it was on Main Street (...). Somewhere in there (near) the camera shop, where he used to, he used to take pictures of everybody in Bishop.

RP: Is that Phillip's?

PF: Uh-huh, Phillip's, uh-huh. Somewhere in, in there, one of those little stores. And I remember the five and dime. Oh, you could buy anything at the five and dime. It was so cheap.

RP: Just to go back to, to your mom's involvement with the USO, did she ever share any stories about that with you? Or did you ever have the opportunity to go with her?

PF: No, I was too young. I was too young. (...) I was only about twelve, thirteen. And she left me home, I guess.

RP: You said soldiers and sailors, where would those, those soldiers and sailors come from?

PF: They had a landing strip at the airport where they trained aircraft carrier, landings on aircraft carriers. Land, and take off, land and take off. So, I'm sure they were maybe flyboys. I remember seeing P-38s flying around and I don't remember ever seeing a big, big plane. But a lot of the little like fighter planes that they would land on aircraft carriers. And maybe they were just there on furlough or something. Maybe they were boys that grew up in Bishop. That I really don't know.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2009 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.