<Begin Segment 16>

[Ed. note: This transcript has been edited by the narrator]

TI: So let's go -- earlier you mentioned church activities. Let's talk about that a little bit more in terms of, so what church did your family go to?

SA: We went to the (Japanese) Presbyterian church.

TI: Is that the same one that is still here?

SA: Well, the site is different, but it was at Ninth and... what was the next street over? Weller. Ninth and Weller.

TI: Ninth and Weller.

SA: It was close to our home, because we were at 815 (1/2 King Street), it was on the next block. I don't know if that's the reason we went to the church, but however it was, it's... because a lot of the Japanese, as you know, went to the Japanese Baptist Church. And all the outlying areas, you have to hand it to Reverend Andrews. He had this "blue bus" that you've probably heard, well, he went to Vashon and Bainbridge and the Kent Valley, 'cause he could drive. And so you'll find them all Baptists, Japanese Baptists, if you sit and think.

TI: But, so you're not really sure why your decided to go to Presby other than it was close.

SA: No, other than, I think proximity, probably. But you know, we had a wonderful pastor there named Reverend Kawamura. During the Depression years, and everyone had it hard, he would come and gather food, and of course we had the store, so he would pick up whatever he could, and then he would distribute it. But I thought he was quite a wonderful person, he walked up and down Jackson and Weller, and he was encouraging people and praying for them. And at that time, we had the biggest (membership), I think we got our membership up to three hundred.

TI: And so when you said he stopped by the store, would your parents give, like, donate food to him to give?

SA: Oh, yes.

TI: And was that pretty common?

SA: I thought it was for him and his family, 'cause he had a family. But we'd see him giving it out to others.

TI: And what kind of food do, would your parents donate to him, do you recall?

SA: Well, bread. Whatever we felt he could use. We sliced our own meat like you do these days. It was lunchmeat, mostly, because the fresh meat would have to come from next door. And fruits and whatever, vegetables. The vegetables we put out on the stalls and it's kind of cute because my father had these chopsticks, or he'd get sticks and then we'd split it so that we could put a sign on, and then he'd take his sumi brush and put down "10 cents, spinach." And we'd jab it into the (bunch), but the amazing part is I asked my sister, it never occurred to me how we washed the vegetables to get 'em out there, you know. And I remember we had a great big tub of water in our back, but we, I don't think we had a drain, maybe we did. And I guess we washed it ourselves and retied it, put it out there.

TI: And so that was kind of like what the kids had to do to get the...

SA: Yeah, we did that, and then, you know, my job with my friend, I had a friend (...) that came every day, we would (fold) out newspaper and we would (...) stack them up, and that's what was used as wrapping paper. I mean, if you would buy anything, we'd stick it in the middle and wrap it up in newspaper and give it to 'em.

TI: And where would you get all these newspapers?

SA: That's what I'd like to know myself, but there always was a stack that I had to, you know, unfold, which I didn't like to do, but, I mean, (but) that was one of my jobs.

TI: But these were, were these, like...

SA: Newspapers.

TI: Used newspapers people had read?

SA: Yes, (sometime, perhaps, like our own and friends' who were collecting theirs for us).

TI: Or, and then people would leave it there, or was this, like, extra newspapers?

SA: They looked like extra because they were clean enough, you know. Of course, you got newsprint and you think today, "My goodness, it's horrible." But that's what we all used, (almost all Asian grocery stores).

TI: Going back to your, before your mother came to the United States she was a Christian. Do you know what denomination she...

SA: I don't know. But I know she said that when she docked -- and this was later, we had an oral interview, my sister interviewed her in Pullman. And then she, I had the written things that she told me that my mother said. And she said when she landed, because she knew what my dad looked like (...) at least she wasn't a picture bride. But she was so frightened in a way to be alone for the first time and into a strange country, that she said she sang "Rock of Ages" and "Abide in Me." And I thought, "That's remarkable." So I think her faith carried her through, plus, you know, she's probably (...) wondering what kind of a place and curious (though fearful) as can be.

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.