3/26/2006 (family e-mail)
I love all of these emails about Mom / Grandma / Great-Grandma, and I've
cried through every one of them, they are so touching and tender and
I've learned so much, especially Dick's this morning. Special thanks to
Uncle Nibs and Aunt Mary, I started crying on that one even before I
read it, of course they've always been special to each one of us.
I guess I was the first one to know Grandma Mano, but of course she
wasn't Grandma Mano at the time, just mommy.
Before the war, we must have been doing quite well in Los Angeles, at
least financially, the war of course changed all that, Mom often spoke
of having to burn all of her momentos of her time in Japan and selling
their belongings for 10 cents on the dollar. She spoke of a black woman
who told her "I know how you feel, we've had this all of our lives".
Our family was fortunate because we had friends in Utah, and this little
family with 2 little kids packed everything in the back of their truck
and set out to Utah, living for a time in a converted chicken coop in
Layton, Utah, so we didn't end up in any of the relocation centers.
I
don't remember any of that, my first recollections were living in
Rockport, Utah, I still remember our house, the little school house
(closed up by then), the neighbors houses and the well where we used to
get our drinking water a couple of houses down. Dad was a farmer
raising lettuce, I don't recall anything else, but they used to raise
peas in the area. There were no stores, closest one I believe was in
Peoa or Wanship (anyhow quite a few miles down the road). Of course all
this is underwater now, but fortunately these were preserved at Lagoon,
don't know if they are still there. I remember the floods that would
come down out of the canyon and flood our crops. Also remember a fire
in the canyon, started by firecrackers, I don't think they were mine. I
remember going to the first grade in Coalville.
Mom said that we would be riding a horse and of course this was around
the war time, some kids would yell at us, "Hi Tojo" (referring to
Japan's emporor), and we would just wave back, not knowing anything
about what was going on. Every Memorial Day, we would drive to Ogden
where Mom's mother was buried and visit her gravesite, we would visit
the Shiki's where her sister Sachie lived and we would go to Lagoon.
These were very special visits and fun times, we didn't do very many fun
things or go on vacations, we were always too busy.
Then we moved to Murray on 45th South, where dad continued to farm.
There was a little creek which ran behind our farm, where we'd sometimes
go fishing or swimming, the fishing was especially good after the fish
and game would plant the trout. We kids who were going to school went
to Lincoln Elementary, until we moved to Woods Cross (West Bountiful).
I guess this is the place where our family must have blossomed, this is
where we had a lot of friends, and people were friendly in West
Bountiful. Dad hired a lot of the kids to work on the farm. It was a
lot of hard work, Dad would work from early in the morning until late at
night, I still remember him walking up and down the irrigation ditches
with his shovel on his shoulder. We all worked on the farm, I guess my
best recollection is of sitting with Mom all day bunching parsley and
radishes, I would work as fast as I could to keep up with her, she was
really fast with her hands, I guess that translated into crocheting
later in life, cause she was really fast at that too. Our main crops
were radishes, green onions, parsley, beets, dry onions, lots of hand
labor.
I was in the 6th grade when we moved to West Bountiful and went to the
elementary school there, so Irene & Ron must have also been in school
then. One day a week after school, everyone would walk around the
corner to the church and attend primary, which was on weekdays then, so
we would go with them, I guess we thought that was almost another class
we had to attend. This was the first time that we regularly attended
any LDS church meetings. Although I believe Irene went a little in
Murray. Mom also recalls that when she was a little girl in Clinton,
that she went to church and had the little pieces of bread and little
cups of water, after she started attending church, it kind of clicked
that she must have gone to an LDS church back then.
For our family, the war was a great blessing, because of it we moved to
Utah and virtually all of us are now LDS, including many missionaries,
not only to Japan, but all over the world. West Bountiful was certainly
a blessing, mom also started going to church after most of us were
baptized, she wasn't even a member when she started teaching a primary
class and paying her tithing. She would often mention that she didn't
know that she could learn so many new things, she had thought that her
learning days were over. She certainly supported our attending church
and being active, although even on Sundays after church, we would come
home and help on the farm. At first dad, didn't like losing the help
even for a short time, but he eventually came to accept it. Irene & I
were first taught by the stake missionaries, Omar Bangeter and the two
of us were baptized in Bountiful, I was 12 and Irene was 10. Later Ron
and Sharon were baptized, then Mom. We had a lot of friends in
Bountiful, mom had a lot of dear friends, the Edmonds, Pages,
Samuelsons, Telfords, Mitchells, Kerrs, Clarks, Salmons, Buys..... I
shouldn't even name them, cause I know I'm leaving some out so many.
Even though we've been gone from Bountiful for many years, they kept
contact and would attend weddings and other events. Ray Edmonds as our
Scoutmaster is really the beginning of our family's interest in
Scouting, I was just a little shy and timid kid, but I knew he loved me
and paid special attention to our family.
Because of our activity in the church, we got interested in softball,
basketball and volleyball. I loved to play softball, and I still
remember playing catch with Dick, I'm sure it was Ron who coached his
team that lost 53-0 though. Course it might have been 100-0 if it were
me. I remember drawing a square box on the bricks on the side of the
house and used to throw a baseball against the house for hours, it was
on the kitchen wall, it must have made a racket, but mom never said
anything, I don't even remember her getting mad when I threw a ball
through the kitchen window. Those beginnings in volleyball were very
meager to be sure, but it was an interest that has blossomed in our
family, I ended up coaching our church teams for about 15 years and of
course it has affected our family and especially Gary's life greatly.
Grandma and Grandpa's great legacy is their family, but even more than
that its an active LDS family, so many missionaries, everyone of their
grandsons is an Eagle Scout, she even went on as many missions as her
three sons put together. When Irene was going to get married, the rule
in the church at the time was that if your husband was not a member, you
could not go to the temple, so she wouldn't be able to attend the
wedding. Our Bishop, Clarence Samuelson talked to us and said "you're
dad's a good man, and a better Mormon than a lot of our members, let's
baptize him", we talked to Dad and he agreed to it, since I was recently
returned from Japan, I was able to baptize him in Japanese. He was
never active, never really understood the gospel, but it allowed Mom to
attend the temple and of course we know all about her temple activity.
Mom, as we all know, was very honest, very blunt and it has been a
family joke that you had to be careful what you told grandma. If you're
single, a little older and not married, you're especially vulnerable
(ask Natalie) or if you miss going to church, she never minded being a
little frank.
Her greatest desire was that her posterity be active in the church and
for the most part we are, she'd like everyone of us to be so. I know
that we're not all as perfect as she thinks we are, so we can all strive
to do a little better and be more like her in her quiet way, she was
soooo faithful.
We cherish the times we were able to visit and come to Utah, and we
especially cherish the times that she came to visit with the California
Mano's. Carolyn was especially close to mom, their favorite thing was
to go to the movies together, I'd come home from work and they'd tell me
about the movies that they had gone to see. She always had that little
grin on her face like they'd pulled one over on me. She was always
cooking, washing, cleaning, crocheting and busy all the time. It was
really special to have her come for Trent's homecoming, she thought
she'd have to miss it and it would have been her first one to miss....
Thanks to Natalie for going to Utah and traveling with her so we could
have that final visit from her.
Over the years, I've missed the close relationship that the rest of you
have had with Mom and all of the cousins. Thanks especially to Ron,
Dick & Irene and their wonderful spouses, for taking care of mom and for
keeping the family so close, we certainly always felt welcome whenever
we were in Utah.
Of course, I also thought that I was her favorite, even in absentia, why
else would she make sushi and manju to send home with me virtually every
time I came to Utah. I'm going to miss her sushi, and of course I
already miss her greatly.
You are an incredible family, a great legacy for Mom and Dad.
Love you all,
Uncle Ken
