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RB: Since we're talking about family, can you tell me a little bit about your wife? When did you two meet and when did you start your family?

MA: Well, my first wife was my high school sweetheart. So she and I grew up together in this small community of Seabrook or Bridgeton Common Proper, and we were together while I was at the military academy, we got married immediately thereafter, and then we had two children. So my son, who is going to be forty-three, I guess, it's hard to believe, and my daughter is going to be forty this year. We had two children from my first marriage, and now they, my son has been assigned all over the world. He's not in the military, but he's a foreign service officer, so he's a diplomat in the State Department. And my daughter is a licensed architect in California, and so she lives in San Francisco. My present wife, she and I have been married for twenty-two years, and we met in Michigan. And so now she and I live in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. The reason that we came back to my hometown here, or my state of New Jersey, is I came back to take care of my parents about seven years ago, where my mother and father's health were of concern. And since being an only child, I tried to have them move out to Michigan where I was living, but my father felt it was too cold. And so my wife said to me, "Well, if they're not coming out here, why don't we move back to the East Coast?" And I said, "Wow, you'd be willing to do that?" She said, "Well, who's going to take care of your parents?" So I owe my wife a debt because she was willing to move out of our comfort, if you will, and come here to my hometown, which I'm comfortable with, but it's very rural here in South Jersey, and I was not quite sure how my wife would be able to adapt. So she sort of sort of had a request. She says, "I have no qualms about taking care of your parents, but is there any possibility that we can move a little bit further out of the country to some metropolitan area?" So we moved into Cherry Hill. And so we feel very comfortable there, because Philadelphia is only ten minutes away and we can get into the city very quickly.

RB: So what was it like coming back here after all those years away? I assume obviously you were still visiting your parents here, but to come and live in the area and spend your time --

MA: Yeah, that's an interesting question that you pose. Because a lot of my colleagues and friends and my professional contacts, they said, "You're going where?" And I said, "South Jersey." They said, "Where is that?" I said, "What are you talking about South Jersey, the southern part of New Jersey?" They said, "Why would you be going to South Jersey?" I said, "Well, because that's where I was born and raised, my parents were still living there." And they said, "You're not going to live there, are you?" I said, "Yes, I am, I'm going to live there." So it was really, it caught a lot of my colleagues and friends, because they said, "You're not going to that really small, rural area are you?" I said, "Yes, I am." And so I never thought about the significance of the questioning. But when I did come back here, I did say, "Wow, this is how I grew up." But I know now that where I live now, I don't think my wife would be able to live here in rural South Jersey. So we did make the choice to live up closer to Philadelphia area and we're very comfortable here. But for me, I think it's really full circle. I have really appreciated coming back here, and I don't have any regrets. I have bumped into so many of my high school classmates and families that I grew up with here. I have returned to the JACL chapter, which I was as a youth when I was, my mother was one of the leaders and I was an adolescent. I was a youth member of the JACL chapter here, and so the Buddhist temple that I grew up in, seen all the people and the families that I grew up with, and many have deceased, but there is so much history here that I feel a part of. And so it was very easy for me to come back to this area and to kind of relate and to connect with not only my friends and relatives, but the community.

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