<Begin Segment 2>

LG: How did your parents meet?

DM: Oh, they lived in the same neighborhood. And probably, I suspect they probably met at church. Then went to the Loomis Methodist Church, and I imagine they met there. But from what I can gather, they fell in love and I think they were engaged first. She was still in high school, but I'm not sure. But what happened was, I know they were going together, and then my maternal grandfather was killed in an accident, and my mother was a senior in high school. And my dad, kindest soul that I ever knew, was trying to run both farms. They had like a fruit farm, I think they grew plums, and then my grandmother, when she lost her husband, had this vineyard. So my father was trying to work both farms, and you know, back then, it was work. So he was going over to her house, and what he told me just before he died, and I'm so glad he did, he said he was working the two farms and he said it didn't look right. So he told my mother, "We must get married so I can legitimatize my being here all the time," back then. I guess the moral code. So they got married before they planned to, because she said because her father died, she had to quit high school, and she wanted to graduate from high school, work a year, save money to get married. Well, all those plans were thrown by the wayside when my maternal grandfather died. So my parents got married, she was seventeen, he was six years older, so he was around twenty-three, so they got married, and that was young in our standards. My mother's name was Shigeyo Minakata, her maiden name. And her nickname was Sinky, so she Auntie Sinky to all my cousins. And then my father's name was Hajime Mitsui. And when he moved here, because they always called him Jim Hajime, they called him Jim. So he had his name legally changed to James Hajime Mitsui after we came to Seabrook, Jim.

LG: So your parents got married, do you have siblings?

DM: I am the middle child, and you know, they always talk about the middle child. I have an older sister, or had an older sister. She passed away in 2007 from pancreatic cancer. And I have a younger brother, he's eight years younger, he was born here in Seabrook. So my parents didn't want to have a child while they were incarcerated, I guess. So right after we came to Seabrook, we came in '44 and my brother was born in '46.

LG: And your siblings' names?

DM: My siblings' names? My sister's name is Marjorie. She was married to Kaz Hashimoto, and my brother's name is Jeffrey Masao Mitsui, and he is married to a Caucasian lady named Wendy, Wendy Jones.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2023 JACL Philadelphia. All Rights Reserved.