<Begin Segment 8>

BH: And then after Lincoln High School, what happened?

AA: Well, let's see. Oh, I took a civil service test, and I worked for Welfare Commission, that was my first job, way out in the peninsula, it was a long ride. There was a, what they call a carpool, so we would go somewhere, to this garage, and then a driver would drive us out and bring us back. And it was way out, like in the boonies, that's what they said. But anyway, I was the secretary. I had taken courses at Lincoln High School, secretarial course, and I even went to Pacific Business College for about a month or so to brush up on my shorthand and typing. So when I took my civil service test, I passed and got the job. And so I was there for a while. I worked, actually, for the state for about, maybe three or four years. I ended up at Rehab, which was a promotion the Rehabilitation Office in the State office building.

And then I got a job with a Japanese company, Mitsui. They were looking for a local Japanese person, so I got the job, I interviewed and got the job. Funny thing is I met them, the bosses, Mrs. Kato, she, her husband actually started West Coast Orient. And I went there to have New Year's dinner, she invited my friend Aki and I, Aki, she's a former Shiraishi. And we went over to her house to have New Year food, and these gentlemen were there. And so we played poker with them and just penny ante poker. Anyway, we had a good time. And when I went to interview, I found out that they were the same gentlemen that I met at her house. Anyway, they hired me. And so I worked there for close to twenty-plus years.

BH: So in the meantime you met your husband Alfred. How did you meet?

AA: Well, I think it was at church, probably, at the Buddhist church, at the social. We had dances in the basement, where it was nice, and it was dark. Anyway, that's where we used to have a lot of our dances, 'cause then I was still very active in the youth group at the temple. (Actually) I met him before... well, I knew him in camp because he was in, not in my class, but he was in the other class. But we were, I think we were on the safety patrol, we had duties, safety patrol. And I knew his sister because she took Japanese dancing with me.

BH: And that was Phyllis?

AA: Yeah, Phyllis. She took odori with me. So it isn't like I didn't know the family, and he actually came around -- and then he went in the army and then came back, and that's when we got together and started going out.

[Interruption]

BH: You used to write to servicemen?

AA: Yes, I wrote to Alfred and I wrote to his cousin Larry when they were in the service, because they said to write to the guys in the service.

BH: And what did your parents think of Alfred?

AA: Well, they really didn't have too much of an opinion, I don't think. My mom and dad never really interfered with who I ran around with. They were fine.

BH: And after he returned from the service, that's when you started dating more?

AA: Started dating, uh-huh.

BH: Okay. And when and where were you married?

AA: We were married at the Oregon Buddhist Temple because it would have broken my father's heart if I got married somewhere else. I got married there on September 15th, it was... all of a sudden my mind just went blank. 1957.

[Interruption]

BH: I understand that some members of the Buddhist temple chose not to get married at the temple. Why was that?

AA: Because it didn't look like a church, and they wanted more of a church atmosphere. So they went outside to nondenominational churches to get married, like my sister-in-law.

BH: And by then you were working for Mitsui?

AA: Mitsui, uh-huh.

BH: And what division were you working in? What were your responsibilities?

AA: I worked in the grain department, and we were shipping grain to Japan.

BH: And by then, had you started your family?

AA: I worked there... let's see. Kevin was born in 1960, so I worked until then. And then my friend Aki Shiroishi came and she filled in for me, and then she ended up staying. And another, a Japanese person, a local person that worked there was George Nakata, and he was my boss for a while. He was still there when I left. I left in '60 when I got pregnant with my second child.

BH: And at one point weren't you also in their lumber department?

AA: Well, that was later on, when, actually, I met a gentleman that used to use our office. And I was home for, not very long, because maybe it was about a year or two, this gentleman came from Japan, from Mitsui, and he worked in the lumber department and asked me if I wanted a job. So I went back to working for Mitsui, this time in the lumber department.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2014 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.