<Begin Segment 5>

TI: Well, in the same way, your father had a conversion experience, too.

KA: Yes.

TI: Going back to that first wife?

KA: Yes.

TI: Can you tell us that story, too?

KA: Yes. He was so, you know, being Japanese, he was so humiliated, embarrassed, angry.

TI: So explain the whole thing. So this is the first wife came -- again, can you tell that full story about the first wife and exactly what happened?

KA: Uh-huh. It was my mother's father who had arranged the marriage, the go-between, and arranged to have her come to the United States. And I don't think my father knew her. But they got married, and shortly after, she left him. And he was so upset and angry and humiliated, that he wanted to find her with whoever she took off with, and then kill himself, commit suicide. Anyway, I don't know... oh, he was in Seattle, or was it Los Angeles at the time when they were married? There were young Japanese seminary students who were preaching the gospel outside, and he happened to stop to listen. And they were telling, saying that, "Jesus Christ died for your sins, no matter how sinful. And that he paid the price, and you can be forgiven." And he thought, "Wow, what kind of God is He?" He wanted to hear more about it. And they took him to the senior pastor, Reverend Kuzuhara, and I've met him, too, he used to come visit. And he explained how Jesus Christ came to save sinners, no matter how bad. Just like Saul, (who was) persecuting the Christians. He was converted. But my father, at that point, repented and asked for forgiveness from God, and transformed his life. He became a new person. And I believe he was able to forgive his first wife at that point. But anyway, it was truly God's working. It was the Holy Spirit. And so my father was converted at that point. And he got so in love with the Word of God, he took his Bible everywhere. Even before he died (...) even while he was working as a gardener, he would carry his Bible. And waiting for the bus, he would be reading the Word of God. That really impressed us.

SP: Was he able to get a copy of the Bible in Japanese language?

KA: Yes, oh yes. Oh, yes. In fact, he would have both English and Japanese, and that's how he learned English. And he wrote beautiful English, and he kept a diary, every day, and he would say, "Praise God. Today it's raining, no job." [Laughs] "But thank God anyway." I mean, it was so cute. I think my oldest brother has it. And he would say, "Went to Kay's house for Thanksgiving, thank you, God, good dinner," something like that. We all laughed when we read his diary, but it was really precious. And then he'd have a scripture for the day. But he really was devoted to God. And like my brother wrote, he had the fruit of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, meekness, humility, he was very humble. And I can't remember him really losing his temper. He always was a loving father to all of us. But my mother was the disciplinarian. Somebody had to be.

SP: Thank you for sharing those stories about both your parents. So going back to your lives in Selleck, you mentioned that at one point, the sawmill closed. What year would that have been?

KA: I think... I think the sawmill started to go down in 1937, and it finally declared bankruptcy in 1939. And I think my parents used so say they used to get rubber checks, bounce. I didn't know what that meant, but it was checks that weren't any good, and so they declared bankruptcy. And all the, all the sawmill workers had to find another place to relocate because there was no other jobs available. And, but while in Selleck, there was a little interdenominational church that we attended, my parents would send us, English-speaking, and we had the most dedicated loving teachers. And that's how we were influenced to love the Lord while we were children. And I just thank God for them. And I still keep in touch with one of the daughters of my Sunday school teacher, and she's in her eighties.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.