<Begin Segment 17>

RP: Where did you, where did you teach? Do you, you came out of Sacramento State?

LY: I started to teach in Blythe, California.

RP: Blythe?

LY: For five, four years, out in the desert.

RP: Why did you decide to take a job down there?

LY: Well, at the time that I graduated they, what do you call, laid off two hundred teachers from our district. So I said well, I'm gonna go somewhere. 'Cause if you're a man you have to go service so said, think of that and get my experiences. So that's why I took that job and after I left and then there was another call in preschool in Tracy but I already accepted so I stay there to, I mean, four years. So 1969 to '73.

RP: What was that like?

LY: Oh, I enjoyed it. what was it like? The school that I went they had like six hundred students. And even out in the country, Blythe, California, they had from elementary to community college, junior college. And then not just one, they had three elementary schools. They were like one six hundred, seven hundred, maybe other one was five fifty. And then they had one middle school, one high school, one community college. And population was like seven thousand. And many of the students rode on the bus from rural area and came to school. And I enjoyed the outdoor, learned how to go, what is it? Ride on the boat but it's not a boat but I forgot the name. I'm sorry, but I can't recall that. (Narr. note: raft).

RP: Oh on, on the Colorado River?

LY: We float... right, Colorado River. And then when I have time I went to community college and took lapidary and then I have a chance to get to know the, the teacher's family and the student's family too. So I made many visit to the homes in mostly outside of Blythe. So we have to go like maybe twenty miles. And I enjoyed the stay but after four years became lonely. And I said, well, I'm gonna be... when I went there I was already twenty-five. So, I was twenty-nine so I said, oh, I want to start seeing somebody. So, I got the job in San Francisco, bilingual programs. So I came back '73 to '74 and first grade. And that's the very first bilingual programs in whole United States. They started. And then I got another job, bilingual programs in resource position in Sacramento. So, I was finally able to come home and enjoy the relatives, friends, and family (in June 1974).

RP: Yeah. And how did you meet your husband?

LY: Pardon me?

RP: How did you meet your husband?

LY: Oh, my husband? His, well, our grandparents were both from Hiroshima. And they were very close friends from I guess Salvation Army. And this was, anyway, I said to my friend, who is a teacher at middle school, I know her, she's a Chinese American, and then somehow Philip's side, little distant relative and then my teacher friend were working at Sutter Middle School. So, my friend said, "Oh, here is Lois Yuki." And other distant relative who knows Philip said oh, here is somebody, get together. So, I told them that, I said I don't want to be put in a situation, somebody's arranging me. I want to be free. So I said to my friend, "Have him call me if he's interested." So he called me. And then when he called me I knew his grandparents. I don't know the grandparents but they, our grandparents, his and mine, knew each other. So I was not really worried. And then his mother and my mother didn't really know each other either, but just the grandparents. And then Francis said sometime he took our grandparents to Philip Yuki's grandparents' place and then my mom took... and sometime Philip's mom took her in-laws to my grandparents, Senos. So, that's how we met. And we were old enough to know so we didn't really... and he loved the movies so only place that I get to go is movies. [Laughs] But it's okay. And it was quite simple because we know the background. So if I didn't know the background, I'm hesitant.

RP: And how long did the, this, your grandparents and your aunts and your uncles stay in Florin? Are any of them still living in Florin?

LY: Yes. So, my grandparents, you know, passed away in Florin. And then my uncle still lives in Florin, and his family, but the children grew up. But, anyway, they're still there. And then aunties, they're all married and went to, some Sacramento, one of the auntie went to San Francisco, but she was in Salvation Army so they moved to different places. And then they're deceased now. So, basically, Sacramento. Then they got married. So our cousin mostly here but some of 'em living in San Diego or one of the cousin lives in let's see, North Carolina, teaching at the University, Duke. And then, and then most of the families are around here or L.A. So, we're very close.

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