Densho Digital Archive - Mae Hada Interview (denshovh-hmae

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Masako H: Your mother, your father had passed away in Detroit, and did she live with you?

Mae H: In 1965, he didn't get to come out and see the house, but my mother stayed there with my sister. And as it turned out, married Sus, Tsutsumu and with all intentions of moving out here eventually when they retired. But she died before she could do that, of leukemia. She wasn't quite forty-nine years old, and that broke my heart because I was supposed to go first. I'm seven years older, so I just felt that was very unfair. And it wasn't very easy for her. It's hard to die with cancer.

Masako H: So your mother came to live with you?

Mae H: Uh-huh, yeah. She didn't stay in Detroit but just to see that Sus could be okay by himself. By then, they had moved to Farmington out of Detroit. I don't know what year that was, and they had adopted a child by then.

Masako H: How old was your mother when she passed away?

Mae H: She was 103. She had those genes evidently. I'm afraid I have them too. But she ate well, healthily and, you know, vegetables and a lot of fish. That just proves that if you eat well, have good genes, you can live a long time.

Masako H: She also wrote her haiku, right?

Mae H: Oh, she enjoyed that. She didn't write it the last four years or so. She had to drop the activity with the haiku club. This is the same haiku club, same name that they started before World War II. Hood was the name for Mount Hood, Hood Ginsha Haiku group, uh-huh.

Masako H: I understand that one of her haiku is where? One of her haiku is...

Mae H: What haiku is?

Masako H: No, no. One of the haikus that she wrote is in Hillsboro at --

Mae H: Oh, that's right. It happen that she was mentioned in a book that collects poetry. See there again, I lost words. In her name, her poetry was selected to be one of the poetry in this book, that a man was putting together who is a professor of Portland State. I never did see the book after it was published, but Valerie Otani of JACL happened to see that. And since she was a major factor in one of the Max-line stations here for the artwork, each station, I understand, has some different group putting art in that place where people would sit and wait. Anyway, Valerie was one of the group that chose what would go into the Washington County one on Fourth and Washington, and this particular one would have ethnic artwork. There are lots of Indian things. They're on the walls. Some are in bronze. Some are in photographs on the walls. Mom's was selected to be on the granite surrounding. There were other quotes around this station, and hers happens to be a haiku she wrote. So when people come to visit that knew her, I take them over there and show them. And I did a poor English translation, but that's next to it. Otherwise, people would just see Japanese characters, you know. Very well done in that granite, by the way. So that's what's in there. I was proud of her for that, and she was alive yet. She was about 101 when we had a little ceremony there, yes. That's a nice time.

Masako H: After your husband passed away, you, I'm sure you have to go through some major adjustments. Tell me about it, you know. What's life, what was life like without your husband?

Mae H: Without him?

Masako H: Uh-huh.

Mae H: I've always been pretty independent, but I hated financial work. I knew I'd never work in a bank. And he took care of all the bills and everything. All of a sudden, I'm stuck with all this to do because he's gone now. He died in '61, I mean '91, and so I had to make decisions. And so I stayed in the house we've lived in for all these years, but I realized the neighborhood was getting pretty run down because it was zoned a multiple dwelling zone which I forgot what number it is, but, so a lot of people were renting homes around my area, and they were also selling and getting out of the area because it was becoming, some of it was crime ridden. So I thought I've got to think about moving out is probably what you're asking. So when I could, I'd look at any place that look like it might be a possible kind of living style I might like. I wasn't going to buy another house, that's for sure. So I tried looking at all of them. There was something negative about each one. Then one day, this ad came out in the paper, if you want to hear about that funny experience. The ad said, "Avamere open for tourists." It was just before Thanksgiving. Just to take the tour, there's a free turkey. So I said, hmm, I'll go take that tour. I'll get a turkey anyway. So they showed me the large building, and I've seen plenty of those because my brother-in-law was in one, and my husband had to be in nursing home, so I pretty much know how they operate. Then we have these cottages, they called them, over here. So I got a tour of it, and I loved it immediately because one end looks out over a wooded area with a stream. That's the haiku in me. I love that. And the amenities here, exactly what I want, my own washer/dryer, utility room, one big bedroom, one den and kitchen, living room. So I'm very happy with it, and I made that choice myself. A lot of my friends will say, "You're not going to take me out of my old house." I don't believe in that. You have to make your own minds.