<Begin Segment 17>

PW: And where were you married, then?

HS: We were married at Stockton Buddhist Church where he was the minister, second minister there. There was another minister named Reverend Shibata, and it was, another little interesting aside is that right now, Reverend Shibata's granddaughter is the minister there in Stockton right now.

PW: That's Candy Shibata?

HS: Yes. And so anyway, we were married at the old Stockton Buddhist Church by the bishop, the person who was the bishop of the BCA, Buddhist Churches of America. His name was Shinsho Hanayama, Hanayama. And another interesting aside with that was Reverend Shinsho, or Bishop Shinsho Hanayama was one of LaVerne's teachers when he was in Japan and studying to become a minister. So I think he was happy to see him get married and also to preside at the wedding.

PW: You said that his father, LaVerne's father, had also been a minister at Stockton, is that correct?

HS: Yes.

PW: So there's a long lineage going.

HS: In Stockton, yes. And LaVerne's story is that, as far as the ministry is concerned, he is the twenty-sixth generation of the Sasakis from Japan. Because in Japan, the system is that a child, a boy follows his father's occupation, and the same goes for temples, too. So LaVerne is the twenty-sixth. And unfortunately in our family now, we don't have a twenty-seventh. [Laughs] Although Sharon is much more interested in, maybe not becoming a minister, but she's a minister's assistant in San Diego.

PW: That's close.

HS: That's as close as we got.

PW: That's very close. So this must have been a pretty exciting community wedding, then.

HS: Yeah, right. It was a big community wedding, yes. And only one person from each family was invited. Because you can't be... only the very close family members could be there. But outside of that, in the community, only grant, one person from each family was allowed to be, was allowed to come. And it's not just Stockton, but also Mountain View, because Mountain View was where his father was.

PW: Oh, so the father went from Stockton to Mountain View, right?

HS: The father went from... father went from... let's see, where was Father before we went to Mountain View? I don't know where his father was before he went to Mountain View.

PW: That's okay. But he was being assigned to different temples and moving around?

HS: Right. Well, that's what they did before, right, yes. Right.

PW: So, but it sounds like it was a very big wedding?

HS: Yes, it was.

PW: Many people?

HS: Yes, there were a lot of people. There were a lot of people, as I said, only one per family could come. And I know one of the things that happened during that time was that a very elderly man who lived in French Camp, which is outside of Stockton, painted every single chair white, white paint. And he was already elderly, but that he did, he took it on and painted every single chair before the wedding.

PW: That's a good story.

<End Segment 17> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.