<Begin Segment 4>

LT: And what kinds of work did your father do on the farm?

SA: Oh, gosh, work on the farm is endless. Pruning, thinning, irrigating, spraying, irrigating -- I said irrigation. But things were different in those days. I mean, like today, you have a big speed sprayer, just go down the row, between the rows of fruit and you're done, you spray it. But then in the old days, you had a tank sprayer pulled by a team of horses, held about two hundred fifty gallons, and you had about two hundred foot of hose behind the machine and you had a spray gun and you sprayed the trees, and somebody moved the tank with, keep the horse going. But then when the tank empties, you had to go back to the main port to refill the tank, and that took another half hour or so. But by the time you finished spraying, well, you cover, spray one round on the entire orchard, time to start the first part again.

LT: It is endless, isn't it? If you could describe your father, what kind of personality would you say that he was?

SA: Dad? Oh, he was very domineering. Like even in Europe in the old days, father was the ruler. He didn't argue.

LT: Can you give an example that you remember as a child?

SA: No, but I used to get in trouble a lot because I was kind of rebellious, incorrigible. [Laughs]

LT: What would he say to you then?

SA: Huh?

LT: What would he say to you?

SA: Oh, he wouldn't say much, but you know I'm in trouble. I used to go hide behind my mom. [Laughs]

LT: And your mom was ten years younger than your father, I believe.

SA: Yeah.

LT: Okay. How would you describe her?

SA: Oh, she was very helpful. Yeah, like I said, she used to knit us sweater. She did all the cooking. I don't think my dad did any cooking.

LT: How would you describe their relationship as a married couple?

SA: Oh, I think in those days, the female, the mother, had no question. I mean, she did what she was told. I mean, it's not like that today. [Laughs]

LT: You know, going back, you said that their view of living in the United States was that you could almost pluck money from trees. So did they talk about that later on?

SA: No. But when you think about it, fruit hanging on tree is money, you know.

LT: Makes sense.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2013 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.