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Title: Clara S. Hattori Interview I
Narrator: Clara S. Hattori
Interviewer: Tom Ikeda
Location: Seattle, Washington
Date: December 8, 2014
Densho ID: ddr-densho-1000-426-16

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TI: Earlier you talked about how your father with some of his friends established the Methodist Church. So let's talk a little bit more about the church. Can you tell me, what was the church like? With the building they built, how large was it, how many people would show up on Sunday?

CH: I can't tell you how large it was. It was just... well, I have pictures of, yeah, there were steps that came in. There were steps going up, and then there was a double door, and then that was one big room. And then there was a stage, as I recall, that was a little bit up. And then the stage had a door to go out, if you wanted to go out, and then the church bench was a regular church wooden bench, and it had one of those, on the ends were just the arm hole, and then the back was a straight board. And then every so far there was a place for the hymn, put your hymn, Bible stuff on the bookcase, book holder. And of course, they passed the donation plate around every Sunday. I don't know what that was for, I suppose it was for the church. But I don't know if it was for the minister or for...

TI: And on Sunday, how many people were usually there?

CH: I would say probably twenty or maybe more. Well, young people had their own services first, and then the older.

TI: Now, why did they separate? Was it one in English and one in Japanese?

CH: Japanese, yeah. Isseis were mostly Japanese, because they were all, they didn't speak English. A lot of the women didn't learn to speak English.

TI: So did they have two ministers, one who did English and one Japanese, or did one person do both?

CH: It was just one minister, he did the Japanese, Issei part. But the young people, it was all kind of volunteer type of thing, as I recall. There was always some young fellow that would get up and read the hymns and read the scripture and stuff like that.

TI: And tell me how important the church was to your family?

CH: My dad was very much into the church. He more or less tried to lead the church -- not lead the church, but I mean, he worked for the church for a lot...

TI: So he was kind of like one the church elders?

CH: Yeah, he was always the head of something or the other. If it had to be money-making stuff, then he was the head of that.

TI: And so would you consider your father as one of the community leaders?

CH: Uh-huh, yeah, he was. And as I grew older, I remember Penryn being the Buddhist church there, and they got together for certain things like some money-making thing for the community. My dad would contact Penryn, some people that lived there, and they worked together, yeah. And my dad, I remember, did a lot of... well, when you live out in the country, he has to drive and go to all these different places and areas. And so he was, lot of times he was gone. And he'd spend all day either getting donations or something, whatever they were working on.

TI: Because your father could speak English, was he often used to, what's the right word, kind of interface with the...

CH: Hakujins? Yeah. If there was something, a problem that had to be fixed, my dad was there.

TI: Can you recall an example of that? Maybe if there was an issue or something?

CH: Mostly it had to do with fruit, something to do with the fruit delivery or that kind of thing. Of course, fruit was pretty important to them, because that's the one money-making thing they have. I can't give you an example of anything. Of course, I was younger, and I didn't care. [Laughs]

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2014 Densho. All Rights Reserved.