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BB: You have some other stories or memories of particular people or events during that time?

CE: Can I tell just a couple little illustrations of what fun it was that I had because to me the Japanese people know how to have fun. They know how to laugh, and I just love that. We were at Shizue Iwatsuki's home in Hood River, and I'll preface that with I became aware of the lives that take place in the Japanese language, Iwatsuki which is "I-wa-tsu-ki." It was Iwatsuki. She was a wonderful lady. One time when we were still meeting in the church, I got so amused because, and all that became very plain to me when Bishop Tomita was trying to get the service started, and he couldn't find Mrs. Iwatsuki, and he couldn't, he needed her for something, I don't know what. I was just sitting there waiting. And he came down the aisle, and he said "I-wa-tsu-ki." And with each syllable, a foot came down on the floor. [Laughs] At any rate, we were at her house for our little worship, and we were a pretty small group then. And then afterwards, she had some refreshments for us, and she came along with I forgotten what. We each took something and put it on our paper plate and put it on our lap, and then she came along with a huge bowl of potato chips. And she came to me, and I took out a handful of potato chips which I thought was about the appropriate amount to take and said thank you. She looked at me, two more handfuls piled onto my plate just as quick as that, and she went down, and I was just laughing. It was a wonderful experience. Five years later, she died -- five days later, she was dead, just gone that quick, and I was devastated to have that wonderful experience and so much fun, and then she was just gone.

But that's some of the joy of, let me look and see if I... oh, I wanted to mention the Fujinkai ladies. They were wonderful, and they were always, you know, wanting to be so helpful. Etsuya Minamoto, early in my time here, would be a knock on the door, and I'd go to the door, and she'd be standing there with this pile of food, and she would say, "Here, you eat." [Laughs] They took care of me like crazy. And before Ikoi no Kai came to being, Ikoi no Kai came into being, and the church was pretty much empty all week long. But once a month, the Fujinkai group would have a bible study, and then they would all bring something to eat for themselves and have lunch afterward. And they kept wanting me to know if I would join them for lunch or something. They would even bring me something to eat and so forth. And I said, "I will come, but I will, I'll bring a sack lunch." I'll bring something for myself and so forth. So I did, and I joined with them, and we conversed a bit and so forth, and then they got down to some of their own things and so forth. And pretty soon one lady was speaking pretty loud, and the lady across the table from her spoke pretty loud. And then pretty soon, the lady across -- first one across the table, you know, spoke louder and started shaking her fist, and the other one started shaking her finger. Then they stood up, and they just went at it, and I thought, well my goodness, they are having some kind of a [inaudible]. I'll bet if I understood Japanese, they'd ask me to leave. [Laughs] And they were very upfront and very forthright with each other and very, you know, stern and yet very close, very supportive, very happy with each other, and they could do all that emotion just marvelously.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2003 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.