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LG: So you mentioned your husband.

DM: Yes.

LG: What was his name?

DM: Robert. Robert Akihito, Akihiro. He was named after the emperor's son, only the emperor's son was Akihito.

LG: And how did you meet?

DM: We lived across the street in Seabrook, but it wasn't until 1960 that we started dating, and I was his sister's best friend, and I never ever thought I would marry him. But after I graduated from nursing school, we started dating and that was it.

LG: What did he do for a living?

DM: He was a, in printing, they call them strippers. They work with film, and to tell you the truth, all I know, it was very intricate and you couldn't make mistakes, and that's about all I know. He was in the printing business.

LG: What was his name?

DM: Huh?

LG: What was his name?

DM: Oh, typical male number one Japanese son. But we had fun. I was in sports, he didn't play sports, but he loved sports. So, I mean, baseball, basketball, and then his biggest passion was the Flyers. My biggest passion were the Eagles to this day. So that's, I mean, how many girls want to go to a 76ers basketball game on a date. How many girls want to go sit out in the heat and watch the Phillies? How many girls want to go out to watch the Eagles play when they're throwing snowballs at Santa Claus? [Laughs] So we were a good match.

LG: And do you have children?

DM: Yes, four. When we were courting and I asked him, "How many children do you want?" and he says, "Four." And I said, "Whoa, can we take them one at a time?" [Laughs] And as it worked out, it worked out fine. He had got his two boys first, and he said when our first son was born, he was the proudest man alive. Ichiban son. So he says he was... and then when the second one was born, he says, you know what he told me? He says, "Now you can have whatever you want." I said, "I'd like a couple of girls," and I got my couple of girls.

LG: What are your children's names?

DM: Well, my first one -- and we didn't give them Japanese names. When I went to college, my last name was so mutilated, I figured they're going to have enough trouble with "Mukoda." So I gave David Michael, my firstborn, Timothy James, my second-born, Patty Lynn, my third-born, and Stephanie Robyn, my fourth. And now they're Stephanie Robyn Dragin, and I have a son-in-law from Puerto Rico, and so Patty Lynn is Patty Lynn Reyes. So we're sort of an international family now.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2023 JACL Philadelphia. All Rights Reserved.