<Begin Segment 20>

RP: As a kid, did you ever have a thought of when are we going home or is this home?

KK: Yes, I do. I recall one time saying, "I hate this place, I want to go home." I don't know how old I was but I do remember saying that at one time. "Why can't we go home?"

KP: And why did you hate it?

KK: I guess it was the dust and the food, you know, yeah, probably the food. [Laughs]

RP: One more question. You said that Reverend Nicholson brought a refrigerator and you used it.

KK: We did. I think (we) put fruits and that sort of thing in it.

RP: Did it go with you to Utah?

KK: No, I think we left it there.

RP: I've heard of very few people having a refrigerator.

KK: Yeah, we did have a refrigerator.

RP: Other people want to use it too?

KK: I don't remember, I think my mom put tsukemono in there, I think that, you know, they made tsukemono, yeah, things like that. But we didn't, you know, for the most part, we went to the mess hall for our meals. It was nice when we had the mess hall in our block. And then we had to go Block 30 so there were more people and it always seemed very crowded and we had to stand in long lines to get in.

RP: So that's where you went to school in Block 30 in the recreation building.

KK: When I was in third grade it was in Block 33, we walked up to Block 33 for school. And my teacher's name was Miss Hardy, I remember more crafts and things in that class. I think we made a drum or something.

RP: So would you eat in that block's mess hall or would you go back to Block 31?

KK: We just came back home. I don't remember lunches. We must have gone to our own mess halls for lunch. That's strange, I don't remember what we did for lunch when we were in Block 16. That's really... isn't that funny, I don't have any recollection of lunch.

RP: Did you ever have the opportunity to run into Miss Shoaf again?

KK: Yes, we did, my friend, Ruth, who lives in Cupertino, (had a colleague) at De Anza College and my friend Ruth taught there and her... this young woman's aunt was Miss Shoaf. And she came to visit her and so we had lunch, but she didn't remember us, she said she just remembered the boys. [Laughs] I think she probably got along with the boys a little better than us. Somewhere I have a picture but I don't know where it is of our fourth grade class.

RP: Are there any other stories that you would like to share with us before --

KK: I'll probably remember when you leave but no. [Laughs] It wasn't, you know, that traumatic or... last year I... my son and his wife took our grandson and he enjoyed it. I think he enjoyed visiting my niece a little more because they had a huge trampoline and she had chickens. But he got to fill out that little booklet that you have.

RP: Junior ranger booklet. You have some relatives who live in the Bishop area.

KK: Yes, my niece and her husband, Dr. Hiroyasu, Stuart is an optometrist and Michele teaches, I think she teaches first grade now.

RP: Now you were a teacher for a number of years, did you on occasion share your camp experience?

KK: Uh-huh, I did. A couple of times the fourth grade teacher asked if I would come and talk to the children. So I talked about the games that we played and how we spent our time, you know, wandering around, looking for flint or arrowheads and that sort of thing. But camp, I mean, children now associate camp with fun and games and so we did have fun and games as children but I did talk a little bit about the difficulty for our parents and for the adults.

RP: Well, Karlene, thank you from Kirk and myself and from the National Park Service.

KK: Well, thank you. Thank you for coming and letting me share my story.

<End Segment 20> - Copyright © 2010 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.