Densho Digital Archive - Ann Sugimoto Interview (denshovh-sann-01-0005)

<Begin Segment 5>

RP: Was he a Christian in Japan?

AS: I don't know. No, I don't think so, because I don't know if there was Christianity at that time, but from, they were real, from way back they were. And my father knew Dr. Kagawa, remember him? He was a real, good friend. He came here, and I remember him coming to the house and visiting us and all that. But he was that way... church...

RP: Where did you go to church when you were a kid?

AS: Well, first, it's funny... my father first, well, it goes way back. Are you familiar with the Union Church? Well, before that, (...) he said, he was a, I think he was a Baptist or a Presbyterian, those two churches got together and they built the Union Church. And I remember when the opening of that, we were little kids and we thought, "Oh, what a big church." All that. So that's... and then after that we moved to our area, San Pedro and Tenth Street. We lived there, and so they built a... (...) Christian church and my father was helping them, so we attended the Christian church. And he wanted to move there, but they said no, they didn't want to give up his membership in the Union Church. But he helped Christian church. (...) Before war they built another church on Washington and, and... what was that? I forgot that other street. (20th Street and Washington.) [Interruption] Father and Mother were very good Christians, trying to... 'cause in the market days, you know, like any other place, the people like, in there the people like to [mimes drinking from a bottle], you know, all that. And my father was always trying to get together, I remember, have meetings at the house, I remember, and help toward that. So we lived... I didn't know 'til... now I think "Oh, gee, I guess we were kind of middle-class, but I thought we were poorer than anybody else, driving an old car." But that's life. My dad was always helping, since he's... I guess, he was, of the immigrants at that time... I know they had problems and they didn't have all kinds of institutions to go to. And so Fukushima Kenjinkai, that's the prefecture, they had those...

RP: Picnic?

AS: Uh-huh. And so they always referred them to my father, because my father had a car and he knew the Christian minister and so forth, and I guess he had the means to help them. So I said, when I think of now, no wonder my father was always helping people, but Mother always stressed that we all, we all took piano lessons and violin and singing lessons. And my brother was a real good singer, too. But this, my father -- culture. And my mother, she went to college, and in those days very few ladies went to college, so they said, "Oh, Mrs. Wakamatsu is educated for a lady of that time," I guess she was, you think about it. And she used to help the people, too.