<Begin Segment 17>

RP: Now, where did you go to high school?

KK: University High School in West L.A.

RP: And then on to UCLA?

KK: And onto... we went to Emerson Junior High School and then to University High School and then my friend and I went to Santa Monica City College for two years and (then) UCLA.

RP: And that's where you met him?

KK: No, actually I had already graduated and had started teaching and he had come back from Germany in the army.

RP: Where did you first teach?

KK: In Canoga Park in the valley, San Fernando Valley and so I still didn't know how to drive at that time so I used to have to catch a ride with someone. And it was, you know, I guess it was the baby boomers, we were on double session, so I had to start teaching at about seven-thirty or so in the morning, very early, and then we were finished by noon. And the fellow I got a ride with wasn't real patient and so sometimes if I wasn't out there immediately, well, I think he'd wait for a little while but he'd leave and then I'd have to find my way back home. So there was someone who lived somewhere east of Beverly Hills so I would ride over the Laurel Canyon Road or Cold Water Canyon or whatever road and go into town to Beverly Hills and catch a bus home because we lived right off of, couple blocks north of Wilshire Boulevard.

RP: Why did you decide to become a teacher, Karlene?

KK: That was sort of... you either became a secretary, a nurse, or a teacher, you know, at that time. And I didn't feel like I had any special talents to do anything. I was interested in occupational therapy but our daughter-in-law is an occupational therapist and I don't think I would've been able to do that. [Laughs] It's more like, I mean, there's a lot of nursing, you know, duties that go along with it.

RP: You mentioned that incident of prejudice in Utah, did you experience other incidences when you were back in Los Angeles?

KK: No, we didn't. I went back to church, it was Easter Sunday, I think the first Sunday when we returned to West LA and they were taking a picture of everybody who had attended that day. And I was standing next to this little girl and I said, "How old are you?" and she told me and it turned out we were in the same sixth grade class. She was quite a bit... she was nine months younger and to this day we're friends all these years. Her oldest daughter is my goddaughter and so we just recently attended her wedding, second marriage but she has a ten year old daughter. We went through sixth grade, all through junior high, high school and college together.

RP: Have you shared your camp experience with your kids?

KK: Occasionally we probably will talk about something but I don't think, I mean, I don't believe we've ever sat down and discussed it. They're aware and they do know about it but I think Rose (Honda) and Mary (Ishizuka) were very instrumental in helping us survive this as young children coming back from, we were pre-teens and shortly after that, they organized a little club, that's maybe where you were thinking of the club. But they had organized (us)... there were seven of us originally and to this day we're friends, lifelong friends. Whenever we go down to Los Angeles we get together for lunch, but during that period of resettlement we were, we were the Sunday school teachers and many of the things that we started are now, traditional church events, like an Easter breakfast and our club. Oh, we were also the choir for a while. So that was a rich, a very rich period in our lives.

RP: The church was really instrumental in --

KK: Uh-huh. But Mary and Rose just took very good care of us.

RP: Do you remember seeing Rose in camp?

KK: You know, I probably did see her but I don't remember exactly. Well, our parents were busy getting resettled, they gave us many experiences that we wouldn't have had. They took us to Huntington Library and on all sorts of outings and they also taught us to, you know, volunteerism, doing things for others. And I remember we used to babysit and with the money we earned we bought equipment for the Sunday school and that sort of thing so they were really wonderful teachers and mentors for us.

<End Segment 17> - Copyright © 2010 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.