Oral History Program Aiko Flowers Interviewed by Kandice Harris 15 July 2021 Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Aiko Flowers Interviewed by Kandice Harris 15 July 2021 Copyright © 2022 by Weber State University, Stewart Library iii Mission Statement The Oral History Program of the Stewart Library was created to preserve the institutional history of Weber State University and the Davis, Ogden and Weber County communities. By conducting carefully researched, recorded, and transcribed interviews, the Oral History Program creates archival oral histories intended for the widest possible use. Interviews are conducted with the goal of eliciting from each participant a full and accurate account of events. The interviews are transcribed, edited for accuracy and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewees (as available), who are encouraged to augment or correct their spoken words. The reviewed and corrected transcripts are indexed, printed, and bound with photographs and illustrative materials as available. The working files, original recording, and archival copies are housed in the University Archives. Project Description The Weber State University Oral History Project began conducting interviews with key Weber State University faculty, administrators, staff and students, in Fall 2007. The program focuses primarily on obtaining a historical record of the school along with important developments since the school gained university status in 1990. The interviews explore the process of achieving university status, as well as major issues including accreditation, diversity, faculty governance, changes in leadership, curricular developments, etc. ____________________________________ Oral history is a method of collecting historical information through recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account. It reflects personal opinion offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ____________________________________ Rights Management This work is the property of the Weber State University, Stewart Library Oral History Program. It may be used freely by individuals for research, teaching and personal use as long as this statement of availability is included in the text. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Flowers, Aiko, an oral history by Kandice Harris, 15 July 2021, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. Aiko Flowers 15 July 2021 1 Abstract: The following is an oral history interview with Aiko Flowers, conducted on July 15, 2021, in the Stewart Library, by Kandice Harris. In this interview, Aiko discusses her life and memories, her time as an employee for Weber State University, and her role as an Administrative Assistant for the Annie Taylor Dee School of Nursing. KH: Today is July 15th, 2021. My name is Kandice Harris and I'm interviewing Aiko Flowers about her time here at Weber. Alexis Stokes is filming this interview. When and where were you born? AF: I was born in Syracuse, Utah. My parents were immigrants. They immigrated here from Japan. My dad actually came here when he was 14 with his parents and then my grandmother just couldn't do it. She missed her family and friends. So, my grandparents and a toddler uncle returned to Japan. My dad and his brother stayed here. When he was 21 he went back home and married my mother and brought her to America. All of us kids were born after that. KH: How many siblings do you have? AF: There were 12 of us in my family. It's a big family. KH: What was it like being a first-generation American? AF: I think for me it was the way I was raised. My dad could speak English just like he could sit here and do this and just as well as I could. And he just said to us "Don't let anybody treat you bad." And I think that he said, "You're just as smart and as 2 good." But he just said we were as good as everybody else and we could do whatever we wanted to do with hard work. If you brought a report card home that didn't have a grade that he thought was what you should have gotten, you were in trouble. And it was not a fun day. From my perspective, I think that you're treated like you treat other people. We have incidences where we were called names. Basically, I grew up in Roy as the city started moving down into Roy, my parents bought a place in West Point. I finished my last two years of high school in Davis County. We had to ride the bus to school each day. My sister and I were never allowed to sit down on the bus. I don't think it had anything to do with race. I think it had to do with religion because all of those kids were in a group at church and we were not. After about six months went by, my sister and I got into a fight on the bus and I ended up with my skirt band torn away from my skirt. My dad had to come to school and it was not a good day that day either. He just said, you just can't do that. You can't be beating people up. We were tough kids because we grew up on a farm lifting bales of hay and doing other heavy jobs. We were strong and tough. My sister, I think, was tougher than I was. She was not afraid to smack somebody. We grew up on a farm with just our family. I think for the most part, all of us ended up fitting in somewhere in the communities that we chose to live in. I never felt like that anybody treated me bad. I do know that I was prejudice against even here at Weber State. But you just learned to deal with it. KH: So where were you in the lineup with the 12? AF: I was about...let's see. I was fourth from the bottom. 3 KH: This is a little outside of what I was going to ask, but how big is your family now? All extended? AF: Well, I haven't kept track. I know that when my kids were born, they were like, number 42 and 45 or something like that, and then there were some that were born after that. And then now I've got a great grandchild, the legacy continues. KH: Congratulations. AF: My little Shyanne graduated with a BIS degree, I think in... it's been a couple of years ago. And then she just decided that she didn't want to do school anymore and she decided she wanted to be a mom. So that's what she's doing. KH: Good. Everybody should be doing what they want to do. AF: Yeah, I think she'll come back, though. I told her, "Shyanne, I can't stay here forever. You’ve got to get done doing whatever you're doing." But it was fun having my kids up here with me. They didn't come around very much, but they came when they needed money or a ride like every kid does. KH: So would you talk a little bit more about your early life? Where did you go to elementary school, junior high, and high school? AF: I went to Roy Elementary School, which is no longer there, then I went to South Junior High School, and that's no longer there. I think it was me that did it. And then in my ninth grade, they built Roy Junior High. So we were the first graduating class. Then I went to Weber High School for a year, I graduated from Davis High School. I went to Beauty College, I actually got a scholarship to go to 4 St. Benedict's School of Nursing. But you have to live on their campus. My two sisters that were older than I am, they both were in college and one attended Weber State University State and one at Utah State and somebody needed to drive my mom around and to help on the farm. So I chose to not take the scholarship and I went to beauty school instead. KH: Was the beauty school through a private institution? Or was it through Weber or through a tech college? AF: Weber didn't have a school then and Ogden and Weber.. it's been so long ago. There were no little community colleges. I think maybe they might have been trying to start a little tech college. I went to Hollywood Beauty College, which was in downtown Ogden. I graduated in the summer of 1961, I actually finished early because completion was based on hours. I never got sick, I never took a day off. I just went to school every day and I ended up finishing early. And then, of course, you have to take your state boards and I was so happy when I passed and I still maintain a license. KH: Oh good! AF: I haven't done hair for probably 30 years but I love that job every bit the day I ended up as the day I started. KH: So when did you graduate from the beauty school? What year? AF: In '61. KH: Okay and how long was that program? 5 AF: It was 2000 hours. KH: Roughly how long did it take you to do that? Was that like a year or six months? AF: They give one year to do it. And most people did it in that length of time, everybody showed up unless they were sick. But it was fun. I still have a couple of friends that I went to beauty school with that I stay in touch with you. KH: That's awesome. So when you finished the program, where did you go? AF: I had a job waiting for me when I finished. I went to work over on 30th and Harrison for Don Eppic. He was the "it" salon at the time. He got me involved in the Utah Hairdressers and the Weber County Hairdressers, of which he wanted me to enter hairstyling contest. I won several years in the county. And went on to the state competition where I won second place. That was a fun time for me. After I got married, my husband asked me not to participate. I think he thought I was having too much fun. But we were young and just starting life. He ended up saying, "You need to just stay home." We built a small salon in the house and I practiced for about 15 years, which turned out to be good because my parents were getting older and starting to need help. My sister, who was a schoolteacher, bought a home near where I lived and moved my parents in with her. I would go to their home every day and help take care of them. My mother passed away following a stroke. My dad was very sad, he didn't know what to do. We ended up moving him to my house. I was his daycare. In the beginning, my sister would get him ready and drop him off at my house and then on her way home from work, she'd pick him up and take him 6 home. He was moving slower and it was harder to get him to do things. She'd bring him on Sunday night and pick him up on Friday. We did that for probably, I don't know, maybe a half a year or something. And finally, she just said, "Can he just come and stay with you?" I already had moved my two kids into one bedroom and made a bedroom for them. The kids were happy. They had the stacked bunkbeds and they just loved it. We were all happy to have him there. My husband was really good. I did say to him, "Now, if anything happens to your mother, we can take her." But the time that I spent with my dad was great. He helped me pick grapes off of the vines to put it in the juicer. That was back in the day when I was doing a lot of canning. It was good because the beauty shop ladies would stop and chat with him. They made a fuss over him and included him. They would bring him cookies and other food items. After my dad passed away, I would do these really weird things, like I'd go to the Ogden City Mall around eleven o'clock. I’d think, "Oh, I've got to get home to take care of Dad." I would check my watch to make sure that I got home in time. I would drive all the way home before I realized he wasn't there. I mean I'd forget that it was just kind of in my head. I would hear him walking, I'd be down in the beauty shop working and I could hear him walking upstairs. Finally I went to the doctor and I said, "I think I'm going crazy." He told me that that happens to a lot of people and to try to find a job/volunteer outside of the home. The minute I told my husband he brought paperwork home from Hill Field and helped me fill it out and returned it to the personnel office. I went to work at Hill Field and I worked there for a couple of years. My husband’s job took us to 7 Japan. It was on Okinawa. He went to set up a parts store to support the F4’s. We were there almost four years. When our oldest daughter turned 21, she had to be a college student or she had to return stateside. At that point, we decided to come home. Hill Field was on a hiring freeze so I decided I wasn't going to work anymore. We were still living in the hotel waiting for our house to be finished. We were painting and doing things to fix it ourselves. I got a call from my doctor, "Hey, I found you a job." I said, "I don't want a job." He said, "You'll love this job, I think you would be perfect for this job." I asked, “What is it?" He said "Just go up there." He was real firm about it and he said, "This guy really needs help." I go up to find it's a psychiatrist and I'm thinking he thinks I'm going to be perfect for this because I'm so spontaneous. I was just nervous that my responses would be offensive. I just can't do this. It was the doctor, his wife, and me. She hired me on the spot. He had been in practice, I think, for like three months. She said, "I don't know how to do this." I started making phone calls and basically taught us how to bill the insurance. They sent me to a lot of workshops, and other educational forums to learn how to file on the “new” HCFA form. I worked there for probably four years. I can't remember who it was, but somebody that worked at Weber State said to me, "You should apply at Weber, they have really good benefits. Your kid can go to school for half price.” I had two kids up here, so I thought, "Oh that sounds really good." So I came in and applied. They had a financial aid job and they had another. I can't remember where the other job was, but I thought, "Oh that financial aid job sounds fun", so I applied. I also had gone back to school to learn how to bill 8 insurance. WSU offered community based classes held of campus. It was was sponsored by Health Administrative Services. It was twice a week and I really loved it. For a moment, I thought about just coming up here to attend school full-time. But my husband said, "Oh, no, you're too old to go to school." KH: So what year were you doing the classes for the Health Administration Services? AF: That was probably in '93 or '94, something like that. And shortly thereafter, I got hired up here. I told the doctor I was quitting at that point, he asked me to stay and help out until he could find somebody to replace me. I agreed to do that, and I worked for him for 14 years until he retired. I just have a hard time saying, "No, I'm not doing that." I was working at Weber State University in addition to working for the doctor. KH: Okay so what year did you start at Weber? AF: I think I started in '94, or '95 something like that. I worked here for 27 years. I would have started my 28 year pretty soon. KH: And you started out in the financial aid office? AF: Yes. KH: What did you do there? AF: Well, I was hired to be a Pell Grant transmitter but there was a lady that was doing it and she was keeping up on everything. So they put me in the window, which I think that job was better suited for me because I never got mad at the students. I got in trouble because there was a copy machine, it was outside of 9 my window it cost a quarter to make copies. Most of those kids didn't even have any money. So I had all these quarters in my desk and I would just go like this [slides hand across table] and hand them quarters. And one of the counselors saw me doing it and she got mad at me for doing it. KH: How dare you help students. AF: Yeah, she said "They're supposed to get that money." And I said, "They don't have any money." I said they can't turn the paperwork in. So then I started just taking the papers and just quietly going and making a copy on our copy machine. Which was kind of a, "No, no." But I did it. KH: How long were you in the financial aid office? AF: I think I was there only like three years. KH: And what was Weber like when you started? AF: Oh, it was so relaxed and fun, you knew every person. I knew everybody that worked here, everybody. Because a lot of the faculty that were late putting in their grades could drop the grades off at Financial Aid. Mainly, because we were the only place on campus that was open on graduation day. We'd have combined parties with other departments. I remember those craft days. Everybody from admissions would come and it was like an all-day event. You could come and do crafts for your lunch hour or whatever. It allowed you to meet a lot of people. It's just so busy and it's virtual and you don't really get to meet anybody now. 10 KH: When you started, was the student services building done? AF: No. KH: Or were you in the administration building? AF: Yes. KH: What was that like? AF: Well, we were on that bottom floor down where the equal opportunity offices are. We took up most of the bottom floor except for the space occupied by the records office. Stella Tarwater was the department chair and she had Kathy Gabaldon working for her. The two of them ran that records office. I think in admissions there was maybe four people. Registration, when it would get really super busy, they would get people that would come in to cover the busy times. Same process in the bookstore. The bookstore was a fun place. They'd have sidewalk sales and it was really a relaxed, fun place. I loved it. KH: I wonder if we just got too big and so all the fun things that used to happen is like, we don't have the manpower, or the funds or stuff like that. AF: Maybe that's what it was. I don't know. But they used to have like I remember, the Native Americans would have a week that they would show all of their stuff and they would perform. One of the days everybody would line up for fry bread. It was just a really fun place to work. Not that it isn't now, but it's just different. I think it is not as relaxing. I told my sister how I felt sad to miss the 24th of July 11 Picnic. Which I’ve made a point to attend each year. It’s the socialization that makes it so fun. KH: You can show up. It would be just fine. AF: I read where the venue had moved due to the hot weather. I will miss seeing everyone. But maybe next year it’ll be better. KH: I think so, too. AF: I think it just kind of happened gradually KH: Okay, so when you left financial aid, were you at the window the entire time or did you change positions within financial aid? AF: No, I was at that window all the time. When we moved to the student services, he gave me the end window which was a little bit bigger. This would allow me to do Pell transmitting when necessary. KH: Okay, what was it like moving from the administration building to the student services building? AF: Oh my gosh, that was just something else. Boxes and boxes and boxes of files and they didn't get a mover, we moved all our stuff. Richard Effion was the director of financial aid, he did a great job getting everything moved to our new student services office. I think it took us a week to move everything. A ribbon cutting ceremony was held, Marie Kotter was in charge. She wore a purple suit, a Weber State purple suit. I thought she was the most smashing looking woman on the planet, and it was quite the grand party. 12 KH: What type of stuff happened with the ribbon-cutting ceremony? AF: We were busy packing up to move to our new office. It's more friendly now because everybody gets invited. But back in the day, it was only certain people were invited to things like that. KH: What year did you switch to nursing? AF: I was there in probably the late 90s. I worked until October the 31st and then was off until February 1st. After a couple of years, we switched from quarters to semesters and everything changed. My workload was secretary over all off-campus students. Outreach covered Richfield, Uintah Basin, Richfield, delta, etc., we went all over the state and also provided nursing education to students in Alaska. KH: Did you get to go to any of those places? AF: I did. Rob Holt was the enrollment director. We would go for orientation and we'd go for recruitment. The theory classes were delivered via the internet. The clinical faculty were hired locally. There was a huge demand for nursing education in the small towns of Alaska. We would go twice a year, orientation and graduation. Thank heavens, when I went with Betty, there were a few days where she'd fix it so that we could just kind of like rest and be able to get back. The University of Alaska eventually created their program. KH: So was your husband in the Air Force as well as working for them? AF: He had retired from the Air Force and became a civil servant thereafter. 13 KH: So how did you meet your husband, was he stationed at Hill Air Force Base? AF: By then, he had retired from the military and he stayed here. I actually met him in a bowling alley. I think there was a movie or something that somebody met their spouse in the bowling alley. My kids tease me and say, oh, yeah, you're just like that. We've been together for a lot of years. I think it's coming up on 57 years. KH: Congratulations. AF: I was only 10 when I married him. In case you were wondering. KH: Okay so how long did the outreach program work with southern Utah and Alaska? AF: All of the programs in the state, like Dixie College, SUU, UVU, they were all tech schools with nursing programs under the direction of Weber State. When I first started, it was called, Sevier Technical School. They connected with Snow College. That was a real big deal. Salt Lake Community, as well were all Weber State Programs. Weber got all of them going, and then when they would get established, and able, Weber State would pull out. I remember the SUU one. That was because I was involved in that one, and I think that was maybe the last one. DATC which is now Davis Tech, is Weber State University’s program too. We still have the second year of the Davis program and Ogden/Weber and Bridgerland. Ogden/Weber is going well and now the DTC is admitting three times a year. That's great. So our program is a full-time program. Everybody's admitting every semester, spring and fall. And it's hard. It's really, really hard to 14 do all of that. But Rob will be able to do it. He's like a miracle worker. So, you know, it really is the people behind the scenes that get all that stuff done, really, and he does a great job and always has. We've had so many fun--They're not supposed to be fun. But we would start and we would meet up here at six o'clock in the morning and to be in the Uinta Basin by a certain time, you know, and sometimes there's a herd of cows going down the road. You got to just wait until they go by and you just kind of do what you have to do to get there. We've traveled a lot of miles together, he and I. Doug Watson kind of took over the admissions part of it and he used to go with us, but he wasn't near as much fun as. They'd want to stop for ice cream, you know, and I can't eat ice cream. Finally, I had to say to Doug, "You don't want me in the car if I eat that. So I'm not eating it." I would have loved to have eaten it. But it's been just there's not one day...Probably there are a few days that I thought, "I hate this job." But I don't think that for the most part, it's been a really fun job. But it was time for me to leave, I think, when it's time. Although I say that and right after you know all of it, I'm staying home, I just kind of sat there and didn't know what to do. I'm thinking, "Let me see, what am I going to do today?" and I so I did nothing. I did nothing for like four days and just sat there and I thought, "This is so stupid. I have got to do something." You know? But I think you're so programed that you just kind of lose touch with reality. When I turn and look around and think, "Wow, I did all of that stuff, I can't even believe I did it." KH: Yeah. What other responsibilities did you have in the nursing department? 15 AF: So I did the outreach for, I don't know, maybe 12 years or something. Anyway, when Susan Thornock became the department chair, she came to me and said, "Do you want the job of being my secretary?" I had worked with her in outreach, and she was the lab lady when she first came to work there. And I don't know, for whatever reason, the lab ladies didn't really get the support that they deserved to have because that's a hard job. I don't know whether it was just that. I'm just so free to give up my time or what, but people would come to me and say, "Hey, do you know how to do this or can you help me do this?" And I became friends with her. And we're close in age. So I had to apply for the job and everything, because the lady that was there, she really didn't even want to work. You know, she came from, I think, down at quad seven, down in that Alan Ferrin area, and she just was drawing pictures all the time and not doing anything. So Susan kind of said to her, what is it that you do? And she said, "Oh, I just take care of Katherine." And that was the lady that was a department chair before Susan. And Susan said, "Well, I don't need to be taken care of. So you've got to decide what you're going to do." And she left. So I had to apply for the job. And so I became the... I don't know... it was kind of like head office supervisor. That I just made sure that all of the faculty had what they needed. And I kind of really miss scheduling classes. I loved doing that. And of course, I don't think there was anything that I didn't love, love, love doing, you know. Filing...I didn't really love that. But other than that.... that's why I sent it off to you Kandice. KH: I appreciate it. 16 AF: Well, you know, sometimes you don't know what you're supposed to say and what's good and what's not good. That's the hard part about it. So. I was glad that you were here and I could just keep passing you stuff. So I worked for her after that. I worked for her for maybe 13 years, something like that. And we decided that we were going to retire at the same time. And she stepped down and never told me. She didn't just totally leave. She just stepped down and became a faculty instead of, you know, she was not the department chair anymore. So I said, "Well what happened?" And she said, "Well, I just decided that I just couldn't do that anymore." And I said, "Well, you could have told me." But she said, "You need to stay there and help Sally get on board and everything." And even though if I kind of said, I'm going to go, I'm retiring, no one believed me. And they kept saying, "Oh, you're not really going." I said, "Yeah, I'm leaving." I had inherited four secretaries' stuff. And I thought, "That's just crazy." I have not looked at those files. Whatever's in there, I've never looked at it. And so I just every day I go to work and take some and put it in the shred box till I emptied all the file cabinets. Because there was, you know, it was just I don't even think it was any good. At first, I was going through making sure that I wasn't putting any Social Security numbers or anything in the blue cans, you know, but then I thought, "Why am I doing this?" So I just started taking the files and just putting the whole thing in the shred box until it would give full. So I might have thrown something away that was good, but I don't think so. You know, in my heart of hearts, I don't think I did. But I honestly, it was harder to leave Weber State than it was to get, you know. Oh, my gosh. I just it was. Like I didn't call up 17 Utah Retirement soon enough, so I don't know whether I'm getting any money or what. The lady was really nice. I said, "Oh, I'm so sorry. I understand I was supposed to call you, like, three months ago and I didn't know." You know. And maybe somebody sent me an email or I was supposed to know that. I don't know that. And she said, "Oh, you'll be fine." She said. "Is money going to be a problem?" And I said, "No." She said, "Well, you're going to get your money, but it's just going to take you awhile." So every day I've been rushing out to my mailbox to see. I guess they send you a packet and you have to fill it all in and tell them what you want. And so I just have been waiting for that when it comes. But it's difficult. I had to do that P-card and I had to stuff out yet, and I said to Brad Budge, "You know, I don't know what to do." And he said, "Just stop using it in the beginning of June and let somebody else pay for your stuff." So that's what I did. And I was able to clear that out. And I think I got out of here with everything I was supposed to do done. No one's called me so. I think that I've done everything I'm supposed to. But, you know, the longer you are here, people think you're supposed to know everything. So pretty soon everybody's coming to you asking you questions and everything, and I didn't mind it. But sometimes I wanted to say, "I don't know. You'll have to..." and then you give them somebody to call and they don't want to do it. I have been told that I took too good care of the faculty and everybody, you know. I said, "Well, no one's missed me because I have not received one phone call from anyone". KH: That's too bad. 18 AF: No, that's what's good. Sally has needed a few things. Yesterday... or was it two days ago? She called me or she texted me and said, "Oh, I accidentally gave you ownership of this file." I'd been putting things in there for her. And she said, "Oh, I gave you ownership of that. So can you give it back to me?" So before I called her and I went on and it said, "You're not allowed to be in the box." So I called her up and I said, "I got this message. It said, I can't get in the box. And anything that you have that is attached to Weber State in any way except my email, it is gone." I tried to use Word it is gone. Oh, she asked me for something. And I have it somewhere, but I don't know which flash drive it is on and so I tried to go look at it. I can't even do that. I can't do anything. So I'm going to have to read. I'm going to have to somehow... well I've got my husband working on purchasing Word. But those are the kinds of things that I didn't know that that was going to happen. What can you do, you can't sit there and cry, you just have to push on, you know? So I said to him, "Oh, I'm going to go up to the library, but you see what you can do about getting Word. So I can create that document for Sally." That was what I did the whole time I was there. Susan started in 2010. And then she stepped down in '20. And I stayed until this year, so that was how long I worked for her. And that was a real fun time for me. I've been really, really lucky throughout my life because I've never really had a boss that I really didn't like. I had one that, you know, I had a little problem with. But and that's when I say that I think it was a little--I don't know that it's called prejudice, I think it was what I looked like that was kind of buggy to her. So and it's not like she's going to look. She didn't look good either. But I did the best I could. I just kind of toughed it out 19 because I know that those people change and who knew I might have got one that was worse, you know what I mean? It's been a fun time, I've just loved working here and all the people that I've met and I used to... A few years ago, I said to Holly Hirst, "Well, I'm not going to retire." And she'd ask me about retirement and I said, "Well, I'm not going to retire until..." I forgot her name...Mary Schwab. "Until Mary Schwab retires because I know she's older than I am." Then when she retired, I thought, "Uh oh, I'm probably the oldest one on campus, you know." When they sent that little notice out that I was retiring, Joyce Barra sent me an email message and she said, Now that you're leaving, am I the oldest one in the department?" And I said, "Yep, you won the crown." And so she came back to me and said, "Are you sure? Isn't so-and-so older than me?" And I said, "No. She isn't. I'm sorry. You're it." And really, I was the oldest one in the college. Because I'm going to be 80. On my next birthday. Yeah. KH: You look great for 80. I would not have guessed that. AF: You know what? I can still stay up with those people up there. With Advil, you can do anything. AS: That's a great quote. KH: What are some of your favorite memories of Weber? AF: Oh, gosh. You know, just the camaraderie up here is great. You know, if you're an employee and you haven't felt that camaraderie, I think something's wrong. Because it's there. Just all of the activities that they have and the fact that you 20 can participate or you don't have to participate. And every year, you know, the LDS seminary or whatever, I think that's what it's called. KH: The LDS Institute. AF: Yeah, well, Rob Holt, who I became friends with when I first came up to nursing, he would invite me to go to that every year. Even though if I knew I was invited-- because they'd send you a little card in the mail--and I would be his little date and we'd go down there, you know, and it was fun to look forward to things like that, you know? And like I said, that picnic. I love that picnic. I'll be here next year if they let me. I don't know whether they will or not. KH: I don't see why they wouldn't. AF: But I always brought my family to it every year. I would invite them to come, except for I think a couple of years ago we had a Chinese girl that had her daughter. Her daughter came and the two of them were here. And I don't know how I end up being kind of a caregiver to them, but I was driving them around and everything. And then Marianne Reynolds, she's faculty up there, and she just found herself in her car. And so, you know, she could go to the Asian market and she could go where she wanted to go. But I would think that that would be so hard to be here with not knowing where you're going. I don't know. Although I didn't experience that when I moved to Japan, I just had to get--my friends made me a shirt that had an American flag on the front. And it said, "I am an American" on it because they'd keep talking to me. And the Okinawan language is a little bit different than the mainland Japan language, and I can understand. I wouldn't 21 embarrass myself to speak back, but I could clearly understand that they were saying. But I couldn't really do that in Okinawa because it was kind of a mixed language. And I remember saying to the guy I worked for, I worked for a colonel, and he said, "Well, you got to think of it as if they are the backwoods people." "Oh okay, like Dolly Parton?" He said, "Well, they're not as polished." So I said, "Well, I can't understand them. So maybe it's me." And he said, "No, it's not you.” So I was grateful for that. I just think that the stuff that they do for the employees is just incredible because I worked at Hill Field for three years and they never did anything like that. We had to make our own fun. They never had any outside things for people to participate in. It was a job, totally a job. And this, I think Weber offers a lot to their employees. And I think everybody's treated really nicely, so. KH: As your role as office manager and the outreach person, how did you perceive nursing changing over the 20 years that you were in that department? AF: Well, you know, every little kid wants to be a nurse, you know that. And they would come. And it was kind of for me, it was really when I worked in outreach because some of those people did not have the tools or anything to help themselves. And like I remember, they would waive classes because there was no place to get them. And then they started doing online. And remote learning became, I don't know, they fine-tuned it. Because when I first started, they used to send those packets in the mail and it would take... I don't know how long it would take to get there and get back. And you'd just wait and wait, and we waited. We waited until whenever they got done and then they got a grade and 22 then they were okay. But now, you can't do that because who knows whether they'll finish or not finish. But for whatever reason, we always knew that those students would complete the courses that they needed and they were really honest about it. And now I see honesty isn't exactly what it should be, you know. And that kind of has always bugged me over the years. And I was not afraid to say, "I don't think that's true." I was never afraid to say that to a student. And I know you're not supposed to do that, but I was not going to let them think that I was flying off on their stuff. I was happy to help them and I think they knew it. I have in my house, one of those folders--it's not a folder. It's an envelope, a Weber State envelope, and every time somebody would send me a little message that, you know, like that they couldn't have gone through the nursing program without me. I would print that off, and I would put it in there. And that little envelope is pouched. And I thought, "Why did I save all this stuff?" You know, I just couldn't believe that I saved that. Maybe I needed that at the time, I don't know. I thought, "Oh that's just another bunch of stuff I have to throw away." KH: Well, if you don't want it, we do AF: I remember one girl in Alaska, and there was a time when I don't know what happened. I have my own idea. But all of these students were failing pathophysiology, which is a required course at the time. And this little gal in Alaska, she was newly divorced and trying to find her way. And I just felt so bad for her, you know, and she didn't pass patho. So we signed up again and she had saved all her papers from the first time around, and she admitted the same 23 paper that she submitted the first time and sent it in, and she got an 'A' on it the first time. She got a 'D' on it the second time. KH: Was it because she resubmitted the same thing or? AF: No. So I went and said, "Look at this." I went to the faculty and said, "You know, that's not okay to me." He said, "Oh, I didn't grade that right." And I said, "I don't care what you did, but it's not okay if you gave her an 'A' this time and a 'D' this time, that's not right." And so he just kept trying to be right about it. And I said to him, "Well I'm going to tell her to sue you is what I'm going to do, because I think she would win." And he said, "Oh she'll pass the class." Now, to me, why do we have educators like that? That's not right, and I know that there for a minute they didn't know. They were...it was just like people in the class. Then they started doing that where they would pay per student or something. I don't know how...I didn't remember that side of it, but it was something like that. And so that's why people started failing in the classes, because it was a required class. They had to take it again. And, you know, that wasn't okay. I remember that we have another place in Tooele that that was happening. And one of our faculty that had taught patho before, went out there and taught the class for them. You know, things like that were about the only negative that I had in my time, you know. But it did not bother me to go fight for the student. KH: Good! AF: I would go over there and argue and tell them, and I'd win. And I wasn't leaving until I would win. They might be glad to be rid of me, for things like that. As far as 24 the comparison between the two jobs that I had, I loved working with the students. If you can help them, it just makes you feel good. I only got on Facebook because these students would ask me to be their friend and I never post anything. Every year I get a birthday message from one of the students. It was in that Wasatch Front group. IHC gave us a whole bunch of money and we scrambled together and got this group of students and the one lived in Logan and there were three that lived in Fillmore or something way south. And one of the students every year he sends me a birthday greeting in Japanese, he went on a mission in Japan and every year he sends me a little birthday thing and it's been years. I don't know how many years, but it's been a while. So it was in maybe 2007, something like that. And it's just kind of fun to connect, to stay connected to the students. Hopefully, they'll remember me if I have an accident or something on the way somewhere, they'll take good care of me. KH: What does a typical semester look like for you? So a pre-pandemic, what was the semester like for you? AF: Well, I think that my job kind of remained the same. The only thing that I did every semester was I did that. I don't know whether you're familiar with it, but it's called a flack report and it's all of the people that are on overload and all of the adjunct faculty. And we have a lot. We have probably more than anybody has per semester. And you just have to tally up everything and make sure everything's right and loaded so that they'll get paid. But other than that, my job was mainly the same stuff. Just keep and make sure that they turned in papers that they were supposed to do. And, you know, nursing has a lot of stuff that they have to 25 have. You know, they have to have their licensure, they've got to have all of their shop records. They've got it. Everything's going to be in. And it's kind of scary when you think about that, you know that you're making sure that everybody takes the tests and the driving test and all that. Along the way, they say to you, "Well, why do I have to do that?" "Well, I don't know, but you have to do it. So just go do it." I think it was more fun helping students than it is faculty. Although, I love the faculty up there. I think in my head, it's like the students don't know any better, and you do. That was the comparison. KH: How did your department change because of a pandemic? AF: Oh, my gosh, I remember when that first started. They just said, "Nobody can come in the building." And then I got a message saying, "Okay, we're going to designate two people that can come in the building." And the door was locked and everything. So Rob was one of them and Chris was the other one, and I remember I went up there to get my plants. So I opened the doors and looked to see. You know, I knew who had plants, so I took all these plants and I took a box up there. And I loaded them all in the... Oh, I think I called Chris and said, "Can you just go in and get all the plants and load them in one of those tubs that's sitting there?" Because I had a tub that's about this like that, and we used to put ice in it for soda when we'd have things. She loaded all of the plants. She went to everybody's office. My garage was full plants through the whole pandemic. And the interesting thing about it, this one plant was like, I don't know what kind of plant it is. But it had dead branches and everything. They all came alive in my garage. And it's just a beautiful plant. I didn't want to give it back. It was really 26 nice. That happened and trying to make sure everybody had. My job was not that hard. I think it would have been really hard for people that were shepherding students, you know, to make sure that they were getting what they needed. But for whatever reason, students would call in and they'd get shipped to my phone. And a lot of the times I don't know this stuff anymore. It's been too long since I worked with students and I don't know what to say. And I'm really honest about it. I say, "Well, I don't know the answer, but here's who can help you." And I had a normal phone. Then I got this other phone and I figured out that I didn't know how to transfer calls on that IP phone. So I would have to write all the information down and then send it to whoever. It was just awful because I could just walk down the hall and say, "Hey, can you call this person?" You know, but that was hard and trying to AF: [00:00:00] follow the rules. Just it was awful, you know, but I enjoyed those town hall meetings that Brad would do and how it was interesting to listen to the people. I think it was just a complicated time for all of us. And then people got used to working at home and they didn't want to come back. [To Kandice] Are you one of those? KH: Yes. AF: Because the girl that does the...she's cute. Her name's Ashley Hendrickson and she's in payroll. And I think she just moved her office right to her house. See I didn't like it, because when we first started, I said to my husband, "Okay, now I got to have this computer room. So you're going to have to move out and go in the other room." The first few days, he kind of left me alone. And then pretty soon he would come in and I had a chair in there and he'd sit down in that chair and 27 watch me and I'd say, "Did you need something?" And he'd say, "No, I was just trying to see what you were doing." And this, you know, after like four or five days, I just thought, "I'm going to just let him." I said, "Why don't you just take over? I'll work on the kitchen table." So I have this crate I'd put everything in it and I'd set up every morning. You know, and I would just have to put it in the crate when we would eat. It was difficult. But I did it, I cleared off a space on my bar and made me use that as my workspace that I could just leave there. Because we didn't need the table. But I was happy when they said you can go back to work. And I came in almost every day. KH: When were told that it was okay to come back to work? AF: I can't even remember. It was around the time...it was after people made... Most of our department had had both shots. KH: So it would have been this year. AF: Yeah. But nobody could come in. You would come up here and the door was locked to the building. So, yeah, it was a long time. And now I think, now it's kind of funny because towards the end that I know no one came. I mean, no one there's virtually no one, is there. You know, all the last days that I worked and Friday I was there by myself. So I don't know what they're going to do, but I understand that August the 1st, everybody is coming back. So I don't know. But, you know, I personally, this is my opinion, everybody and people like you that can work at home, I think you should be allowed because look at what it's doing to the environment, and maybe you can come in, set aside one day to come in or 28 something. But I just think that it's if you can do it at home, why not? [To Kandice] And you don't have little kids do you? KH: No. [Video stops] [Video begins] Are there any committees or organizations on campus that you're a part of? AF: Back in the day, when it was called CSAC and PSAC. I was on CSAC twice and. I don't think I was on anything else, I served on different small committees, like lots of them in our department. Like when we did the 60th celebration, I was on that committee and KH: That was a big party. There was a lot involved with that. AF: But, you know, you just kind of do it and that's what you do. Whatever Susan asked me to do, I did it and I did it willingly, you know, so. KH: Okay, how have you been recognized for the things that you've done? AF: Well, I was so happy to get that service award, you know, I got that in...It's been five years ago, maybe...I maybe four years ago. KH: The staff service award? AF: Yeah, because that's a pretty cool award to get. When you think about all of the staff that are here and that you're one out of all those people that, you know? I was really quite impressed with myself, actually. And surprised is what I was. I had been nominated for....I can't remember the name of that. KH: The Crystal Crest Award? 29 AF: Yes, and I was a runner-up and I had to buy a ball gown and everything. And it was... I forgot the name of it. He and his wife both worked here and I think they were Native American. But it was a friend of the student award, you know, and the following year when I didn't win, I was a runner up, the department chair said to me, "I'm going to put your name in." And I said, "Please don't put my name in again, that's so embarrassing." So she said, "Oh, okay. I really wanted you to win." And I said, "Well, I wanted to win, too, but I didn't. But don't put my name in." Because you know what you do and you know that it's fine. KH: How have you become a mentor to others? AF: Oh, I hope I've always been a mentor... I just always. Several things happened to me while I was going through this university maze, you know. And a couple of things, it kind of messed me up a little bit. And I just thought to myself, "I'm never going to do that to anybody." And so if I had to find out for myself, if you asked me a question and I had to go find the answer out for you, I would do it. And I don't think people do that. Well, one of the ways that I know that I was a mentor is, you know, people never really realized that if you're a supervisor, what does that really mean? And I just took that right to my heart, just said, "Okay, if you don't know how to do this, I'm gonna show you how to do it. And if you can't come to work, I'm going to come to work and do your work for you." And that's what I did. I just tried to do the things that would make it good for everybody, and I don't know whether that was the right thing but it was in my mind. KH: Prior to the interview, you mentioned that you had some international students staying with you. Would you talk about that a little bit? 30 AF: When I worked in financial aid, they gravitate to you. If they figure out that you're Japanese, they just come. And there was a girl that was in the nursing program that was from Africa. She was from Kenya or something. And she spent many hours in my home. She didn't live at my house. I had three Japanese girls that lived at different times. You know, they come and they're scared and they don't know what they're doing. And then they find a friend--so they'd buddy up with somebody and then they'd rent a house to live in. So they'd stay with me. Or the one girl stayed with me for probably a year. She had a hard time getting along with people and then one of the girls was placed in a home in Morgan and she was just frightened. She was locking herself in the bedroom because she was scared of the dad and he had approached her. I said, "Well, you know, you don't need to put up with that." So she came and lived with me probably, maybe two months. And that was when I was in financial aid. And Yvonne Fosset was in there and she said I knew that she took in a Native American student. Remember when the LDS church was having those Native American students from kind of like Shiprock, Arizona or somewhere, and they'd come and they'd live for a year. And I knew that Yvonne had had one of those students because they were the same age as my kids. And so I asked her if she would like to have Mokokose come and stay with her, because I already had one. I only had room for one. But when the dorms would close up at the holidays, those kids had just come and they'd just sleep in my basement. You just have to help people when they need help. I think Midori only stayed with me about a year and Yumi stayed there almost two years, and these are kids that--Well that Yumi, her parents sent her to 31 some school and it was like in central Utah, it was in Mt. Pleasant. There was a boarding school there and her parents sent her there and she graduated from high school and then she went to Montana to school and just didn't like it there. So she applied here and got in here. But after she left here, she got her associates degree. I kind of helped them because they sent her the wrong--the diploma cover was like big and she got a little cover. Oh, my gosh. I have to go down and find her one of those. I think she finally found herself and she became a nurse. And I saw on Facebook where she said that it was because of me that she did. Well I was not a nurse, but probably that association in the department helped her. If you can help somebody, why not? You know, one of the boys that came, he ended up graduating in gerontology from here. Then he went down and got his master's degree at the U. in Gerontology. And he is now the director and I think they call it Council on Aging or something. It's some part of Weber County's aging thing. And he'll miss me this year because he usually comes and lectures in the health administrative sciences and then he stops by to visit me. He's married and has two children. I think he's done extremely well for himself. I remember when Rose, that lady that I took care of, he ended up coming to visit her. I didn't know that they called him, but he came in and, he's talking to me and he's saying sustenance. But I didn't know that's what he was saying. And I'm looking at him saying, "What?" And he says, "You know, food?" So there were times that we had to do sign language to make it work out. But he's done really well for himself. And I was pleased to be part of that, you know, because I kept saying, "Yeah, you should look into it." And he got a job. I think he got a job in 32 Salt Lake. He left Ogden and then went to Salt Lake and anyway, he met some little girl and married her and probably that was the end and he wasn't ever going back to Japan. It's been an interesting little journey from when I was over there messing around. The years just went just like that. KH: So kind of changing tracks a little bit. What was the Japanese community like growing up in Roy to now? AF: Well, back in the day when I was little, we did everything—all of our activities were planned around the Japanese community. So, for example, everybody that came from the same area of Japan that my parents came from, which was Shizouka Prefecture, they had a little club and it was called Shizouka Kenginki, and they would have two picnics and a winter activity a year. And one of the activities was they go up to--it was up there by Devil's Slide somewhere up there. And it was a fishing day and everybody would pack up their kids, and I'd tell my kids we got to have soda on that day, they just can't even believe that. And so then they'd have another one that they would have at the park, they'd pick a park and they'd do it at a park. And then everybody was a farmer back in the day. So they had a co-op group that was the farmer's group. And they'd have a big picnic at Davis High School. And everybody that could come, like lots of Japanese farmers in Sandy and in West Jordan in that area, that's now all business that they used to be all farms--and up north. And everyone would come and you'd pack up a picnic lunch and they'd have leg races and, you know, and it got kind of mellowed out in later years where they just sat around at the park table and played bingo. But then they'd have it at the Buddhist church. They'd have a big 33 dinner for everybody. But almost everything we did, the community got together. And even in the fall of the year when it became harvest time and you could tell that the weather was not going to hold out for the harvest. I remember going and topping beets at these people's house till they got done and just helping where you could. So I think that was just inbred in me that that's what you do. You help people. KH: Is there still a large Japanese community in the area? AF: There is, but they don't do anything, everybody's off on their own. My husband, when he was playing golf, he used to play every Sunday and every Wednesday in a Japanese group of people. And they let him in because of me. They would play golf and then we'd go and eat or do activities. But now, I don't know whether...because he hasn't played golf for a number of years. But I don't know whether they still do that or not. But I know they have a bowling league that's Japanese people. My daughter bowls in that. So most of these kids have--well kids like me--who have married out of the... my dad used to always call my husband a Brand X. He called them a brand X because he wasn't Japanese. My sister in Moab, her husband is not Japanese. And my brother in law that worked here, wasn't Japanese. And so pretty soon, we all got kind of whitewashed out. I don't think any of them have. I can't think of any of them that have married, stayed in their own race category, but it's okay. You know, if I showed you a picture of my family, it would look like the United Nations. KH: That's so awesome, though. 34 AF: Let's see, one of my nephews ended up--and he married a Hispanic girl and they have two kids. And then two of my nieces were not able to have kids. And so they just adopted. Well, Brandy adopted Isla. And she's the little black girl and she's just darling. And then, Darcy, who is married to a dentist, they've adopted like, I don't know, every year they come with these little kids, you know? And she has one that's I think she is... I don't know what she is. She's Asian of some kind. I think she's like Korean maybe or something. And then she has Reece and Gemma. And I don't remember what that little boy's name is but those kids are all little black children. And then I don't know where they got this Wren, but he looks like you. It's just a darling family, you know, they're just all so cute. And so when everybody gets together and you take these family pictures, "Who are those kids?" KH: So getting married in the 60s, what was it like being in an interracial marriage? AF: Well, I was so stupid that I didn't think anything of it. But we went down to Weber County to get a marriage license and they wouldn't sell us one. You could go to Morgan and they'd let you get married in Morgan, but not in Salt Lake. You couldn't get married. So we went to Vegas and got married. My brother, who married a Caucasian lady, he got married probably in 1957 or something like that. And he went to Colorado. My sister that married an art professor here at Weber State. They got married in Morgan, but they wouldn't let us get married here. KH: That's so sad. 35 AF: Well, it is. It's kind of ridiculous, you know. But Bob, my husband, joined the Elks Club, and we didn't have kids or anything. So he said, "Why don't you get involved with the Doe's?" Well they wouldn't let me in because I was yellow and I said, "Oh, well." Tillotson at the time was the person in charge of the Doe's and so she ended up taking that to their committees and stuff and that went away. So, I think a lot of times things like that, it's awareness. I mean, she had no idea. And she was putting me on committees and everything, I said, "Oh, no, they won't let me on because they sent me a letter saying I'm yellow. KH: Oh, my gosh. Do you feel like your family accepted your husband? And did his family accept you? AF: I don't know about his family because we would go there. He was from the east. And so we would go there like once or twice a year. And everybody was nice to me and everything. But you could hear them talking over here, you know. And I think that, too, was awareness. But my family, they liked him better than they liked me, you know. My mother was great. Well, my parents both were really good, but my dad would get really mad at well, like he was out playing golf and didn't come to family things and my dad would let him know. No, he didn't mince words. He just let him know that next time don't play golf you come here. I think that all of their son in law's were not Japanese were well accepted, you know. My dad really was great when he lived with us. He'd get mad at me when I would say, like, I would take grapefruit and peel it and section it out and give it to him to eat. And then Bob would say, "Can I have some of that?" And I'd say, "No, you can cut it." I said, "Well, when you get 80, I'll do that for you. But you're not 80. 36 So I'm not doing that." So my dad would get kind of mad at me for saying that, but I said, "I don't have time to do it." So I think they accepted him and he loved my parents. When my mother got where she couldn't walk very well, he would pick her up and carry down downstairs to the beauty shop and carry her back up. He was just really good to her. So I shouldn't be not nice, but I am nice to him. I mean, I'm now his caregiver, so. KH: So how many children and grandchildren do you have? AF: I have two daughters. One daughter is married to somebody that works up here and then my other daughter... She graduated from here in sales and technology or whatever they call that. And just hates that field, so she does nails at a nail salon. And then her husband is a counselor at Clearfield High School, and then they have one little boy, he's going to be 11 next week. And then my oldest daughter, Kim, has a daughter, Cheyenne, is 22 and she's married and has a little cute Koda. That's just the cutest little thing, and that's my legacy. You know, I didn't think I'd ever live to be a great grandmother, but I did. The little babies are just so fun, you know, but this little Cy, he's really cute. They're in Oregon on vacation. And they went to the Oregon coast and he got a hermit crab. And I don't even know what that is, but I guess... let's see. Two years. When he was in third grade, the teacher had one. And so he captured it and put it in a jar and they're bringing it home and he said that his dad drove recklessly so the hermit crab died. And they're bringing it home. I said, "Don't bring that home it'll stink." But they're bringing it home. So it's going to be interesting. I have a really interesting, colorful family. Just in case you didn't recognize that. 37 KH: It sounds wonderful. AF: Well, you know, you can laugh or you can cry. And so we choose to laugh and have a good time. You know? KH: Great. That's all the questions I have. [To Alexis] Did you think of any? AS: No. KH: [To Aiko] Okay, is there anything else you want to share? AF: No, I think I've just laid it all out for you. KH: Thank you so much for your time.