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Horiuchi
Helen Horiuchi
UCLA
8/19/99
I met your mother at UCLA when we lived
at Hershey Hall. It was an all girls dorm on campus, which
is now a coed dorm for graduate students. She stayed in a
room across the hall from mine. My room mate was a psych major
who was busy running mice through mazes after injecting them
with RNA. So, I spent much of my dorm life with Anna and her
friends. Your Mom was always so much fun to be with, laughing,
enjoying whatever activities were on campus. We played ping-pong
after dinner in Hershey Hall courtyard. She was a pretty good
ping-pong player too.
I had joined a water ski club at UCLA
and Anna would join us. We water skiied in Long Beach bay
and even tried a trip to Colton’s man-made water ski
park with a cable that would tow the skier around in a big
circle…your Mom made it all the way around without falling!
She was quite amazing. She was never very boastful about her
accomplishments.
I was a year ahead of Anna at UCLA. Her
friends visited from Hawaii about the time I was graduating.
Harvard took us all out to lunch including my parents. I remember
the pretty candy lei she made for me.
One summer I went home with Anna to San
Martin. We stopped at my parent’s home in Reedley first
and continued north. There were 3 of us in her mustang. At
San Martin, her Mom and Dad had cooked this yummy rice porridge
that was hot and good. I met her family for the first time.
We traveled to Berkeley one day. I think it was during this
trip that her brother graduated from Santa Clara College,
and I met her sister Beatrice.
The Pines. This is a two story apartment
building on Bundy Drive in West LA, which had only two parking
spaces. Since, I got the private bedroom, I had to park on
the street. The arrangement was okay with me. Shirley, Audrey
and I lived in the apartment. Audrey was working on her masters
thesis at UCLA. I was working and attending classes at UCLA
for my masters. After Shirley moved out, Anna moved in. Anna
was busy going to job interviews. It was a stressful time
for her, until she found a job with IRS.
Harvard and Bob Long (Dr. Bob on Kauai
now) were at UCLA Dental School. They would sometimes stop
by about dinner time with hamburger. We would cook it with
vegetables. Between us girls, we were pretty good cooks. Anna
knew how to make each grocery dollar stretch, so we always
had plenty to eat and share. I learned a lot about Chinese
cooking from Anna and Audrey. We didn’t eat red meat
on Friday, because Anna’s Catholic. Saturdays were quiet,
because it was Audrey’s sabbath (7th Day Adventist).
Life continues….we were all moving
out. I was getting married. Anna, Audrey and Shirley were
in my wedding. Anna gave me a wonderful bridal shower. She
organized the games. It was a happy time and a sad time. Roger,
we didn’t always get along. We had our arguments, but
we always worked our problems out.
Anna bought a house and apartment on Shenandoah
in LA. Anna and Lynn (from IRS) gave me a baby shower. Again,
your Mom knew all these wonderful games to play. We meet your
Dad, Jim about this time. Your Mom and Dad always had such
funny stories to share. Did your Dad ever tell you about the
cement mixer truck and pouring cement?
After your Mom and Dad moved back to Hawaii,
I didn’t get to see her very much. We would get together
for dinner whenever your Mom was in LA. IRS training bought
her back to LA. After we finished our remodel at Colonial,
she liked my kitchen. So I gave her all the information I
gathered on kitchen appliances. The kitchen skylight idea
does not work too well in Hawaii.
We spent a 4th of July together at the
Huntington in Pasadena. I got some tickets for fireworks at
the Rose Bowl. We must have been up until past 2am. Your Mom
took tennis lessons the next morning bright and early. Harvard
and I slept in and joined her at the clubhouse later.
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