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HH: What kind of decision, what kind of decision was it for you, for you to come to Philadelphia? What were the factors that influenced you to come here?

CK: As far as the influence of coming into Philadelphia, I had met my husband then in camp, and he was a pre-med student in Philadelphia, that was the only school that accepted him. So he asked me to come to Philadelphia to get married, and at that time, the doctor said, "Tell him to come to St. Louis and go to medical school, we have a better medical school, and you can keep your job." [Laughs] So there you have my answer.

HH: I suspect you were torn, but you liked St. Louis?

CK: Yes, I did. Because after I moved from the dormitory, my sister came out from camp, and we moved to an apartment. She did some housework and she attended school, and then because I was there, my younger brother came, and he had an apartment directly across from us, a rooming house so he can eat with us. Then my other sister came and went into cadet nurses at another hospital in St. Louis. So to me, St. Louis was the nucleus for our family to get together, and my parents approved. So then when my move to Philadelphia went, the move started again. My sister came, my other sister came, but my brother was in the service. But my oldest brother was in Boston, finished medical school, but he wasn't in the service because he was in school.

HH: I see.

CK: But we were one of the early ones to come to Philadelphia because War Relocation Authority, I used the Koiwai family picture as a place, in Germantown, as a place they would relocate in Philadelphia, because they were early relocatees. But this was Germantown, Philadelphia, we had the first floor and the third floor, there was a Jewish woman that owned the place on the second floor. Now, from there, after my first daughter was born, we moved to Philadelphia. Being closer to Hahnemann medical school where he was, and lived in an apartment shared with a Caucasian couple. We shared a bathroom, they lived downstairs, we lived upstairs, and this was directly across from Eastern State Penitentiary. So we got to know Philadelphia, we used to walk to Fairmount Park. And we moved again when my other son was born in the Logan area, which is closer to Germantown. And lived in a rowhouse right in the middle of a Jewish neighborhood. And there again, we learned their ways of living and their culture, because it was more or less forced on us, and you don't hang your laundry on certain days. But the children got along fine. At four years old, my daughter, who was April, would bring the whole neighborhood in and said, "Mommy, I want you to meet my friends." So no matter where we moved, I don't think we had any difficulties whatsoever. The children were accepted, and they just moved forward.

HH: It would seem that you had had a variety of resources through friends and other kinds of networks, that a lot of you did feel fairly secure. So would that be correct?

CK: Yes. I think it's a follow-up as far as resources, going out to St. Louis, I was not afraid at all. It's a belief in human being, I believe, that it so happened that our minister was there in the largest congregation. He made an announcement in the evening service, the time when my brother joined me saying, "Could anybody use a young man? His experience is such and such," and this is how he got a job. In other words, you have faith in human being and the return is right there. So I think that's the way I've always felt, that becoming a nurse, and the training you get, we sort of developed that. You don't rely on people, you're trying to do what you can yourself.

HH: Have you ever kept up with the friend who was your roommate while you were in training back in Tacoma?

CK: Yes. So happened that her husband, she joined the service right after graduation. I had tried the same time, applied, and I was rejected, but her husband was a lieutenant in the army and was wounded from the hip down. So she lived in Atlantic City when we met her. But we got her, helped her to get, move back to California, because the husband was being transferred back to Fresno, California. And we see each other at least every five years. At least we would be in Tacoma, Washington, for our reunions. And last time I saw her was our fiftieth reunion in '92, but we do exchange cards. And my Chinese girlfriend that lives in Seattle, she was in training a year ahead of me in another hospital. Now, one thing I shall never forget is when I left Tacoma and was picked up by the army jeep right at the station, my Chinese girlfriend's mother came. Because she said, "Virginia is working, so I came to say goodbye." She hugged me and she said, "If you ever come back, if you ever need anything, I'm always here." Now, I went to meet her two years ago, she's ninety-two, ninety-three now, and she still remembers me. She's ninety-three. But you have friends, and even though you don't keep touch with them often, they're there when you need them. You tell them that you're here if you need them.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 1994 JACL Philadelphia. All Rights Reserved.