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Lillian's Words of Wisdom
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Born in 1922, Lillian Uba (Noda) survived the
night of March 10, 1945 - the night 334 B-29 bombers unleashed a blizzard of incendiary bombs on Tokyo's industrial district
- but as many as 200,000 others didn't. When she awoke from a fitful sleep in an elementary school and shed her blanket
of newspapers, the city she looked out on was gone. "It was burned flat; there was nothing left,"
she says. She remembers the "smell was terrible." Burnt homes, burnt factories and, especially, burnt
bodies. Even the food - mostly rice balls - tasted of ashes.
The dormitory that housed Noda - an 18-year-old "dorm mother" to younger girls who had been pulled from the countryside to work with her making wireless radios for airplanes - had been incinerated as well. It was time to go to another city, to begin another leg on the journey that had started in 1936 when her parents had sent her to Japan from Sacramento, Calif., to go to school.
When the war came, she was trapped. There was no way to contact her parents. All she kept hearing from the government were terrible stories about how the Americans had rounded up a lot of the Japanese people and "ran steamrollers over them and killed them." Were her parents among them? She didn't know. She lived with the uncertainty and fear and found a job working in the radio factory. She was lucky to have a job here; she not only had clothing and food, she had shelter.
Lillian Uba (Noda) talks about her marriage to a fine man, Dr. Mahito Uba, and how he died nine years ago. She smiles and talks about her four sons. She tells how her artist mother - Yuri Noda - designed one of the windows in the Colorado Capitol and how she became an artist, too. But the talk returns to the war, to all those B-29s roaring overhead to all that screaming, all that death. She sighs deeply, almost painfully. "Sixty six years seems like a long time. I remember I was glad when the war ended."
"I don't feel we should have war anymore. I just want peace in the world. No more bombs dropped anywhere."
The dormitory that housed Noda - an 18-year-old "dorm mother" to younger girls who had been pulled from the countryside to work with her making wireless radios for airplanes - had been incinerated as well. It was time to go to another city, to begin another leg on the journey that had started in 1936 when her parents had sent her to Japan from Sacramento, Calif., to go to school.
When the war came, she was trapped. There was no way to contact her parents. All she kept hearing from the government were terrible stories about how the Americans had rounded up a lot of the Japanese people and "ran steamrollers over them and killed them." Were her parents among them? She didn't know. She lived with the uncertainty and fear and found a job working in the radio factory. She was lucky to have a job here; she not only had clothing and food, she had shelter.
Lillian Uba (Noda) talks about her marriage to a fine man, Dr. Mahito Uba, and how he died nine years ago. She smiles and talks about her four sons. She tells how her artist mother - Yuri Noda - designed one of the windows in the Colorado Capitol and how she became an artist, too. But the talk returns to the war, to all those B-29s roaring overhead to all that screaming, all that death. She sighs deeply, almost painfully. "Sixty six years seems like a long time. I remember I was glad when the war ended."
"I don't feel we should have war anymore. I just want peace in the world. No more bombs dropped anywhere."
July 20,
2011 - "Living your life"
June 23, 2011 - Lillian's Theory on Gambling and Hitting the Jackpot
"You have to play a corner slot machine and play pennies and select the
maximum bet and it incresases your chances - I won $900 last time I played the slot machines.
April 14, 2011 - Lillian's
Theory on Sex and Love "It all starts with SEX
and turns into LOVE."
March 7, 2011 -
Lillian's Top Ten List For A Long And Happy Life
10) Watch a lot of TV and especially the news and the Food Network.
9) Surround yourself with people that are happy.
8) As you get older, it's okay to forget names of people - so it's perfectly fine to say "Hey You".
7) Always learn something new everyday.
6) Be sure to drink a cup of coffee every morning to have a "nature call".
5) If you eat something that has sauce, always ask for "extra sauce".
4) Take a nap everyday but not for any longer than an hour.
3) Key to a healthy life is "fried foods" - eat it when you can and especially KFC Extra Crispy Fried Chicken.
2) Do something that makes you happy, like painting, singing, petting an animal, or going to lunch with friends.
1) Pray every night and it doesn't have to be to Jesus - pray to whoever you want. God, Buddah, Jesus, Quan Yin - just pray.
10) Watch a lot of TV and especially the news and the Food Network.
9) Surround yourself with people that are happy.
8) As you get older, it's okay to forget names of people - so it's perfectly fine to say "Hey You".
7) Always learn something new everyday.
6) Be sure to drink a cup of coffee every morning to have a "nature call".
5) If you eat something that has sauce, always ask for "extra sauce".
4) Take a nap everyday but not for any longer than an hour.
3) Key to a healthy life is "fried foods" - eat it when you can and especially KFC Extra Crispy Fried Chicken.
2) Do something that makes you happy, like painting, singing, petting an animal, or going to lunch with friends.
1) Pray every night and it doesn't have to be to Jesus - pray to whoever you want. God, Buddah, Jesus, Quan Yin - just pray.
January 23, 2011 - Relationships
"Successful relationships are built on respect for each other, patience to build a life together and taking care of each other emotionally and physically are the base upon which lasting love is built."