Oral History Interview with Hideko Wakita

Issei female, born December 21, 1906 and came to the United States at age ten. Hideko�s parents returned soon after her birth but Hideko stayed in the United States with her grandmother until they came to Florin in 1916. Hideko attended a local grammar school but had difficulty learning English. In lieu of high school, her father sent her to sewing school as he intended her to return to Japan. Hideko married Kiniohiro Fred Ito, who as �Yoshi� changed his surname to hers, Wakita. When there is no son in the bride�s family the groom is adopted into the bride�s family and assumes head of family responsibilities. Fred worked in the office of the Nash de Camp Company (fruit grower) and Hideko was foreman of their own farm. In the spring of 1942, when Hideko was thirty-six, the Wakitas were sent to Fresno Assembly Center, then to Jerome, Arkansas and Gila River, Arizona. The president of the Nash de Camp Company sent his son or daughter from Idaho to run the Wakita farm. The Wakitas left all their furniture and dishes but when they returned in February 1945 everything had been taken. They filed a claim to the government for $5,000. The return to Florin was very fearful and tense since some Japanese homes had been set on fire and Japanese were intimidated. The Wakitas found that grape farming was unprofitable and turned to raising angus beef cattle. Mrs. Margaret Waegell loaned them pastureland for a year, then the Wakitas bought their own land. A neighbor, Guy Newton, taught the Wakitas about selling cattle at auction. As a result of help from their kind and thoughtful neighbors, the ranch thrived.