<Begin Segment 15>

BH: Now, your late wife Masuko Endo Hinatsu.

DH: Masako.

BH: Masako, thank you. I always knew her as Massie. Masako Endo Hinatsu was interviewed for an oral history interview several years ago. How did you meet Massie?

DH: Well, when I came to Portland in '53, I knew a lot of these people because of the camp and so on. So a friend with Kenny Namba and so on, they had a dance on New Year's and I was invited, so I went, and there she was. [Laughs] Marian brought her. And we became friends, and we sort of dated several times.

BH: And it sounds like you dated for quite some time. What was Massie doing?

DH: Yeah, I met her in '53, and she was teaching at Gervais, and then she went to Willamette High School in Eugene, then she came to Portland and worked in Roosevelt High School. So we got married in '55, but I met her in '53. Then we didn't have kids 'til she finished teaching, it was in '58, when Stanley was born. Then she retired, or she quit.

BH: Now it was difficult for Japanese Americans to have teaching jobs in Portland at that time, I understand.

DH: Uh-huh. And she was lucky that she had an interview with this person here in Portland before she went to Japan. She went to Japan that year, and because we got married, so she wanted to work in Portland. So that's how come... well, she wasn't, we weren't married yet. We were engaged and she went to Japan that summer. She stayed there a whole summer with her mother. And during that time, she already interviewed at Roosevelt, but they told her she didn't have a job when she was there. And the principal, Mr. York, found out, and he said, "Nobody's picking my teachers, because I'm picking her for my teacher." So he sent a nasty letter to the placement lady in Oregon State, and that's how she got her job teaching. She was the first Japanese teacher in high school in Portland, Oregon.

[Interruption]

BH: After you and Massie were married, where did you live?

DH: Well, the first few months we stayed at Massie's home. But it was so crowded and everything that we, before we got married we looked around at different places, but we never did find anything. Because a lot of places won't take us. So after we got married, we got desperate and started looking closer in town, and we found a place, this man and woman had an upstairs unit, flat, they called it, upstairs flat. And he said, "Okay, we'll take you," so that's how come we got this room. Otherwise, we'd probably be still searching for a place to stay. [Laughs] They didn't take us because we're Japanese. It's amazing.

BH: When did you move to this house in northeast Portland?

DH: We stayed in that house in Irvington after Stanley was born for a year. Then in '58, we found this lot here, and I met this guy that was a friend of mine. He had this area, he's the one that found this area. He said, "Yeah, we got a corner lot if you want to look at it." So we came to look at it and said, "Okay, that's good." We'll have them build a house for us. So we put in a requisition of what we wanted for this house. I wanted a basement, but it was too expensive for us at that time. So I said, "No, we'll just go buy the house that you have planned for us." And we'd add a bathroom here and took out a few things, and we had it built. I wanted a lower hearth, but they built it a five brick house, hearth. That was okay. And then the fireplace has both side opening, which is a mistake because it keeps smoking, back smoke comes out. So we very seldom used it after that.

BH: Tell me about your children. Stanley was the firstborn.

DH: Stanley was the firstborn, he was born in '58 before the spring, I think the day after spring. Sally was born on St. Patrick's Day, the 17th, the following year. Michelle was born on my birthday, on April 3rd, 1960, and Diana was born on Father's Day the following year, 1961.

BH: And Stan is the only one who has children.

DH: Stanley's the only one who had children, three children.

BH: And their names?

DH: And the oldest is Elizabeth Anne, (Alison Suzanne), and Audrey. Alison is sort of handicapped, but Audrey is a gymnast. She loves her gymnastics.

BH: And Elizabeth?

DH: Elizabeth is a nurse for several years now. But she's been traveling here and there.

BH: Now if you're like most Niseis, you've been reluctant to talk to your kids about your wartime experiences? Why do you think that is?

DH: I don't know. I never talked to my kids about... well, a few things, but not what we did in camp. But our way how we felt about being in camp. I was more ashamed to be in camp, trying to make good times out of it. So I didn't say too much. They asked, you know, I told 'em just what they wanted to know, and that was it. I didn't elaborate.

BH: How about with your granddaughters? Have you talked a little bit more?

DH: Not much more. They ask just certain things, you know, when things come up, they say, "What did you do?" or something like that. You just answer once and that's it. I didn't elaborate on times of camp. But it was a good experience for me, because I met a lot of people, done so many things, and probably made me more all around.

<End Segment 15> - Copyright © 2014 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.