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LT: After your parents retired, they continued to give back to the community. How did your father spend his time?

TT: He, the first thing he did that was really exciting is he did the research for Metro, for Ikoi no Kai. And so what he did is he set up a team of people who would go out and survey the Japanese community, what they wanted to see is if a hot lunch program of this type would really be a benefit to the Japanese community. And at the time there were a lot of Issei around, and so it was a perfect thing, because they had the Japanese food and a chance for the people to come together to speak Japanese. So he did the research on that and that was a huge project. It took, gosh, I think it took like almost a year. And then he worked with George Azumano and acted as a translator for a long time. I didn't realize, 'cause his English was perfect, you know, that he was also, he was bilingual when he could speak and translate for George, and he actually would write Japanese and this, but I guess as they were growing up, when he was like sixteen and his dad was here, he would do a lot of the -- he owned a lot of property, because people couldn't have property if they weren't a citizen. So he would have his name on a lot of stuff, but he could write in both English and American, English, so that, Japanese anyway, so that he kind of had that. So he worked with George on that, and then decided he should go back for a job, and got his real estate license, and he loved taking the classes. [Laughs] He never sold a house, but he had all these wonderful cards, he had office space, he had advertising, but he didn't ever want to sell a house because he was nervous about the legality and the funding and everything. So he would help people with their open houses and stuff, but I don't think, I don't think he ever sold a house. Then he got hooked up with the bowling league, and he had a group of guys that took all of the alleys, and he would do all the figuring of the scores to see who was high and low, and this type of thing for them. And so he did a lot of that.

LT: Talk a little bit more about Ikoi no Kai and how he was involved.

TT: That was interesting, because when they first started, what they wanted to do is they needed to see, number one, if people would go, worrying that some of the Issei wouldn't leave their home to go to a strange place. So I guess they looked at the Buddhist temple and at Epworth to see kind of where they were.

LT: And this was for the food service, Japanese food service.

TT: Uh-huh, for, I don't know if it's Metro or, I'm thinking was Metro, but I don't know. So Loaves and Fishes is what it was, and ended up being. And then he had a group of about ten people that he got to help him, and he went out and started surveying and talking to, interviewing all of the Issei, Nisei. And the one thing that he said was that he says, "We just need to make sure once this is in place, that we continue to monitor it. Not like every other government thing where we put something in place and then we leave it forever," this type of thing, but he says, "You need to watch, because the population's going to change. And when the Issei are gone, the Niseis' needs are different. By the time we get to Sansei, this program could be gone, because the Sansei aren't going to have an interest in coming to eat. And I've watched as Ikoi no Kai has changed, though not much, and I keep saying, "Didn't anyone read what he said, because he said very specifically, 'Make sure that you keep growing with the community, not staying with the same thing.'" Because having just the Japanese food, but the chance for people to talk to each other, is not going to cut it after a while. And I know they've had some problems with leaving Loaves and Fishes and all of this kind of stuff, too. But, yeah, it was a joy for him because he really felt like he was making a difference in creating a service for people who really need it, and for the Issei, it was great. And I know at the beginning, when I first retired, I volunteered with them, and it was a happy time for those people to come and be together.

LT: Well, your mom also had aspirations after she retired, or after your dad retired.

TT: After, yeah. Then she had decided, first she would just go back and help at the hospital or do this type of thing, and she was doing a lot of crafts and then they talked about doing their crafts and selling them, and she knew that would last about one day. And so she did, she sent back to college, back to Mount Hood Community College, because she had to have updated chemistry class. So she took a full, that full chemistry class, and I can remember her pondering over it and studying and everything because she had to, for her, she had to have an A or it didn't count. So she got her, passed her chemistry and then was able to re-do her license, and then started working for what used to be Mount Hood Community Hospital, and then it has since built Mount Hood Medical Center. It's huge now, and part of the legacy, Emanuel and all of that. And my dad was able to buy for her a room, so her name was on the front of it for the longest time. And then you know how they do changing, well, they made it into, she had the top floor looking at Mt. Hood, and after a while they changed the hospital and made it the drug and alcohol unit. Well, my mother was very opposed to abusive use of this type of thing. She never understood why people would do this. So we went there and asked if we could move it, and so now her plaque is right next to the scroll from Ebetsu hanging in the main lobby.

LT: What a nice reminder.

TT: It is a nice reminder.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright &copy; 2014 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.