<Begin Segment 14>

BH: How old were Jayne and Cheryl when you came home to Gresham?

AK: Let's see. You must have been about, she must have been about... they're only a year and a half apart, so if one was two, then the other would be three and a half, wouldn't they?

BH: So they didn't go to school in camp, they ended up going to school in Gresham.

AK: Uh-huh.

BH: So you had two daughters after a couple of miscarriages. Both were born in camp.

AK: Uh-huh, and then I had a son after I came back.

BH: And a son after you returned to Gresham. Okay, so let's review. The first one's name?

AK: Is Jayne Reiko.

BH: Uh-huh. And then the second one?

AK: Is Cheryl Sonoye.

BH: And your son?

AK: Kenneth Tom. "Tom" was after the grandpa.

BH: After Grandpa Kinoshita?

AK: Yes, Grandpa.

BH: And what about your parents? After they went from Washington to Tule Lake over to Minidoka, where did they resettle?

AK: Oh, they, we went back to the coast.

BH: To the oyster farm?

AK: Uh-huh.

BH: And do you know much about their experiences returning?

AK: No, I don't. I don't. I guess I was too busy taking care of my own family.

BH: It's very typical in Japanese culture for the eldest son and his family to live with his parents as you did. After the war and you were all back in the house, in the farmhouse, did what was normal before the war resume again for you?

AK: Yes. Well, by that time, the... well, the second son was married. Then, of course, they all got married, you know. And so at the end there was only Grandma and Grandpa and our own family. We built a home, though, in 1940. So we had lots of room then.

BH: And did Grandma and Grandpa Kinoshita continue to work on the farm?

AK: Yes, they did. Grandma, when she was even ninety years old, she would say, "Well, I think I'll go outside for a while to get fresh air." Then we'd look out the window and she's hoeing away.

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