Densho Digital Archive - Kay Shimada Interview (denshovh-skay

<Begin Segment 14>

DG: So were you involved in establishing the Doshi Kai?

KS: No, not in the establishing of it. I was part of it, I suppose, but I was much younger than the rest of the older people that was president at the time, and secretary and all that. They're all gone now.

DG: So they were older Nisei?

KS: Yeah, they were older Nisei.

DG: And about when was it established?

KS: I think they established that when they came back from camp, so 1946, '45, somewhere along in there, '45, '46. That's when they were, they started the club there, I think. Yeah, they've been there for quite a while. And naturally, all those older ones are all gone now, and I'm one of the older ones now. I guess George would be, George Hiromoto would be the oldest now.

DG: Did you send your kids to language school at the Gakuen?

KS: No. By that time the Gakuen was closed. I wish, I wish they did, though, they learned. But they didn't. Yeah, my son works for, used to work for NEC, so Japanese would've come real nice for him. He had an offer to go to Japan, with a home office out there in Japan, so he was there for about four months. But they sent him back to America again.

DG: So how long have you been president?

KS: Of this club?

DG: Uh-huh.

KS: I don't know, about twenty, twenty-something years. They won't let me out. Yeah, they, I don't know how I got in there, but I was vice president for a while, then next thing you know, they put me up as a president and that was it. I says, "We'd better get a new president, new council members," but nobody wants to do it.

DG: So when it was more active, what would people do, and what do you think its purpose was?

KS: I think at the beginning it was, when a person passes away, that was a great help. We helped all these people. They had, they didn't know what to do. So as they passed away from that area, that was the main purpose.

DG: So with burial costs?

KS: They'd arrange for the funeral service, get the reverend, and arrange for everything, yeah. And then we'd take care of the entertainment or whatever you wanna call it.

JS: So would have they funeral services at the Gakuen? Or where would...

KS: No, at the church, local church.

JS: Local church, like Walnut Grove Church.

KS: Yeah, Buddhist church, Walnut Grove Church if they're from Walnut Grove. But most of 'em were in Sacramento Church, Buddhist Church. But gee, we haven't had any service for quite a while now.

DG: So that was an early purpose.

KS: That was the main purpose. See, right after the war, when they came back here, people, the older ones were going and they didn't know what to do, so the younger people, they took over and formed this organization to help these people with the funeral arrangements and all that. And that was the main purpose of the club. And I don't know, when I got in there -- I'm from West Sacramento. Formerly I was from Clarksburg area, so they wanted me to come in and join over there, so finally I did join, and next thing you know, they got me vice president and soon enough I was a president, and ever since then I've been the president. And I don't know why I'm still the president. [Laughs]

DG: And then it became a more social organization, right?

KS: It was supposed to be a social... mainly it was to help these people that passed away, to help them arrange for the service and reverend, church and all that, take care of all those... and then became a sort of a social thing, parties. And summertime, have a summer outing. In the wintertime, New Year's parties we used to have.

DG: At the Gakuen?

KS: No. Well, we used to have it at the Gakuen, but no heating, in the wintertime there's no heating, parking is bad in the mud, so we started going to restaurants. So it wasn't too bad, but I don't know, I have to go to all the members' parents' services and things like that. Always, I have to represent the club. I don't mind that. I don't mind that, but other than that there's no other purpose for the club, so I've been trying to disband, you know? But they won't let me disband neither. Yeah, what... I says, "I'm eighty-eight. Unless you get somebody younger than me, I'm gonna disband." But they said no.

DG: Well, we want to come to the next, the next gathering. We want to come.

KS: You wanna come? I don't know when that is, when it will be, but it'll probably be February, I suppose. Yeah, New Year's party.