<Begin Segment 3>

MK: What do you remember best in your childhood?

CE: My father came over to the States when I was a third grader. He said that would be the last chance to move to the States and came over supposedly to work at an orchard. He was able to come on a condition that he was to be paid to support himself. He came over to work at an orchard in Hood River. I was a third grader and extremely happy to see him leaving for the States. He was quite short-tempered and hit us if he didn't think we were studying hard enough.

MK: That was quite a relief for you then.

CE: Yes. We were so happy that our father was gone. [Laughs] We were raised by our grandfather and grandmother. We are supposed to be cheaper by three cents. [Ed. Note: Japanese saying: Children brought up by grandparents are not as good because grandparents tend to spoil their grandchildren.]

MK: Your mother also came to the States when you were eleven.

CE: Yes, she came to the States.

MK: You must have missed them. You were a fourth grader.

CE: I missed them, but we had four grandparents and great grandparents. We were not sad at all.

MK: Do you have any siblings?

CE: Four girls including me. I am the oldest. We also had an elder brother; he passed away. My three younger sisters are still doing well.

MK: When did your brother pass away?

CE: Umm...

MK: Did he die in the U.S.?

CE: No, in Japan. My father came to the States and thought this was the best place to live in. He would not have left such a great country and gone back to Japan if he had not had the responsibility of caring for his aging parents. He had to, though, and ended up going back. My brother did the same and went back to take care of his aging parents.

MK: When was that?

CE: 19...25.

MK: He went back to Japan before the war.

CE: He went back after the war.

MK: I see. Then it must have been 1950...

CE: 1920...1955.

MK: He went back in 1955.

CE: Yes. Masako was working as a teacher in a small town in Salem. We went to visit my brother in Japan during her summer break. We took her all around the county. [Laughs]

MK: Did you go together?

CE: Yes, together.

MK: Did your sisters all get married in Japan?

CE: Yes. I asked them to come over to the U.S., but they did not want to as they don't know how to speak English and all. They would rather have me back frequently and have fun chatting and visiting hot springs together. [Laughs] That's why I went there nine times after the war. We visited many hot springs and had a great time.

MK: Nice life, isn't it?

CE: Yes. [Laughs] We were so poor before the war that I could not afford to go back even once. [Laughs]

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2003 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.