Densho Digital Archive - Margaret Saito Interview (denshovh-smargaret

<Begin Segment 11>

KP: So tell us about the bikes.

MS: Oh, well, they were big but we just did the best... I don't even know what happened to the bicycles after but we just had a good old time riding 'em, yeah. I just don't know because before that we never, we didn't know how to ride a bike or anything. So it's really something.

KP: Did it make you popular in the block?

MS: Probably, yeah, probably. We had these older friends and you know it was just kind of fun. It was, I don't know, it was different.

KP: So did you share the bikes with your friends?

MS: Yes. And they, and at the reunions they remind us that we just let them just use them. So that first camp reunion we went to in San Jose where we saw the most people from our block, we all talked about that, it was just so much fun.

KP: So when did you get involved with the drill team in school?

MS: Oh, this was early on because my cousin left early. So this is before Scouts or anything. I don't know. On the back of the original picture it might say what year it was. But that was early because she never was in Scouts or anything.

KP: What did you do in drill team?

MS: Oh, well, we marched and we had these pompoms. So that's all I remember, we marched and had pompoms. And look at all of us in that white, and there were older kids. I was one of the younger ones.

KP: So do you have the uniform?

MS: No, it was just all white. White top and white, I don't know if it was a skirt or what, but it was just all white. It wasn't a uniform. We didn't have uniforms.

KP: Where did you get the white clothes from? Is it something your mother ordered?

MS: Maybe, we did use the mail order catalogs in camp. That's the first time I recall any mail order. It was either Sears or Aldens. I don't know if there was Spiegel then but Aldens was out of Chicago. I don't know where Sears came from.

KP: Do you remember anything special that you ordered or wanted to order?

MS: Probably, ice skates. And it was just those hockey skates. And I don't know if we got warm clothing or something like, we must have, but I don't remember the ordering.

KP: So what were the winters like, for a kid from southern California?

MS: Oh, it was so cold. And I've been through sand blizzards, snow blizzards in Heart Mountain. Oh, it really got very windy sometimes. I was just kind of a kid that just... I could just go by myself places with no fear, but everything always turned out okay... that was my nature. I would just do things like that.

KP: Was that the first time you saw snow in your life?

MS: Yes.

KP: What did you think of that?

MS: Oh, we loved that. They froze those open areas and we ice skated. It was a good time.

KP: Were you a good skater?

MS: Probably not, yeah, just managed. And then I skated later in Washington in open ponds and things like that, too, and indoor rinks here in Sacramento. So I did like skating. Even when my children were growing up we'd go to the skating parties and skate too.