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JK: Tell me about your childhood growing up in Independence. What was that like?

SI: You know, we had, we were very poor, but we always had plenty to eat. My father made a big garden and he raised chickens, so we had eggs, and we never worried about not having something to eat. And as we grew older, I was oldest girl. My brother was real smart, and the teacher didn't want him to spend eight years in grade school, said that was waste of time. So they skipped him, and when he was sixteen, he was out of high school, and he wasn't very big, you know. But he came to Portland, and... I'm not answering your question.

JK: No, you're talking about your family life, so that's perfect.

SI: So he came to Portland and he went to business school. And he knew he had to learn something new. He knew a man from Independence who was living with Mr. Matsuda. His name was Owada, and he was a single man, and he had left Matsuda's home and was living in Portland in the basement of the... I think it was some building, he was living in the basement. So he told my brother, "You come live with me and I'll pay the rent. Don't you worry, you go to school." So my brother went on to business school, he went to Behuke Walker, and then he took a civil service exam and got a perfect score. When he took this card to the civil service to get a job, they looked at him, looked at the card, and they couldn't believe it. "This kid passed?" This clerk took that card and went in the back and talked to them about it, and they said, "This looks suspicious, he's so little." But it was true, he was real smart. And so he got a job in Washington, D.C because of that, his good...

JK: So what kind of job did he get? Did he work for the government?

SI: Yeah, I think he went to the government.

JK: So he had a success story coming out of...

SI: Yes, he ended up after... and then he was, later on, of course, he was drafted, and they sent him to Minnesota, what was that school up there?

JK: Oh, the Military Intelligence?

SI: Yes. And so, of course, he had to learn some Japanese, because he knew his English, but where they were going to send him, military intended you have to know Japanese or you're of no value. So then he started taking Japanese classes, and, of course, that was sort of difficult, you know.

JK: So he had an interesting life. What were you guys, all you girls going back home when you were growing up? Were you doing, I mean, what did your family do for enjoyment?

SI: I mean, in those days, our parents didn't run out and buy toys for you, you know. You made your own entertainment. We played outdoors in the summertime, and we had the Willamette River, we went swimming, and we had a big maple tree out in front of our house, and we'd climb trees and just make our own. And then we had one bicycle, I recall, took turns riding the bicycle.

JK: Do you remember what your school days were like? Did you go to school in Independence?

SI: Yes. Well, it was a grade school first, it was called Oak Point. And I don't recall what the total attendance was, but the whole school, you know, from first grade, there weren't too many students. But our family, it turned out that we all got good grades. We had report cards in those days, and send 'em home, of course, our mother was very strict. We had to have all... I think it was 1, 2, 3 rating, or A, B, C or something. And so we all had good grades.

JK: Education was important to your parents.

SI: Oh, especially my mother. She was real strict, and she wanted all of us to get the best. And the teachers all remarked that all of our kids had the best grades.

JK: That's nice. Were there other Japanese in your school, or were you the only family?

SI: In our school, I think there was a Mitoma family that lived at another hop ranch close by. And I think those kids went to the same school, if I'm not mistaken. Mitoma, they had two children. Did I mention Matsuda family? Anyway, that Mr. Matsuda must have come earlier, because he had his own land. He didn't lease it or anything, it was his own property, and he grew hops on it. So he did very well to not owe any money, and grow hops on your own land. But I can't recall him hiring a lot of people. It seemed like his family did it.

JK: What with the kids.

SI: Now the oldest son, they had one daughter and four boys, I think it was. And the oldest boy, Bill Matsuda, is still alive. And, in fact, about a month ago, I talked to him on the phone. He had left a message for me, so I called him back, and we started talking old times. We talked for a long time. [Laughs]

JK: Lots of memories to share.

SI: And he became an accountant, and I think he's still doing some accounting work. Anyway, he had worked for Hiro, Hiro Takeuchi. He was his accountant, and Hiro had a big store. So I said to Hiro one day, "How did you pick him out?" And he said, well, he knew Bill, so the first name that came to mind was...

JK: The son's name?

SI: Bill's name. So Bill did the accounting for Hiro all those years that he had his store.

JK: And you knew Hiro, too.

SI: And Bill is still... he said that he, when I talked to him recently, he said that he had had cancer for about three years, but he overcame the cancer, and he says, "I'm fine now." He's not ninety yet, he was younger.

JK: So he's young...

SI: Is he ninety?

JK: No, but he's young for the age group. And then how did your family stay connected with the Japanese community when you're living in Independence? Where did you go to church? Did you go to a Japanese church?

SI: They, we didn't have a church, but we had a religious gathering once a month. One person must have decided we're gonna do this, you know. And so once a month we had the minister from the Buddhist church in Portland, he would come to Salem, or Brooks, which was kind of in between Independence and Salem. And Mr. Fukuda owned a little grocery store, and upstairs was empty. And he said, "You can use my upstairs for the howakai," that was the religious gathering. So once a month we gathered there for church.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2014 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.