Sunday Oct 1 10:00 Service
-11:00 Buddhism Class
-12:00 Board Meeting
Sunday Oct 8 9:30 Social Sunday
Sunday Oct 15 10:00 Service – Shotsuki
-11:00 Otoki
Sunday Oct 22 9:30 Social Sunday
Sunday Oct 29 9:30 Social Sunday
Sunday Nov 5 Daylight Savings Time Ends on the first Sunday in November (If it is 9 AM, turn back to 8 AM)
CHURCH ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Joan Henretta, Sunday Service
Lee/Frances Humphrey, Sunday Service
Keith Lyon, Sunday Service
Hugh Maenaga, Sunday Service
Alice Maxon, Sunday Service
Jim Risinger, Sunday Service
Sumi Schumacher, Sunday Service
Wendy Steller, (Aug) Kunio Morri, Chisato Maenaga, (Sep) Hiroshi Makino Gabe/Patsy Hoyos, In Memory of Isaac Miyake
Gabe/Patsy Hoyos, In Memory of Frances Mizuki
Gabe/Patsy Hoyos, In Memory of Jihei Miyake
Gabe/Patsy Hoyos, Shotsuki (Jul)
Gladys Kohatsu, In Memory of Parents Yasujiro/Tokuko Imamura and Sister Sachi Kumagai Dixie Tomooka, In Memory of Kane Tomooka
Ray/Jo Ann Nishino Spencer, In Memory of Dr. Sumio Taniguchi
Ray/Jo Ann Nishino Spencer, In Memory of Chiyono Yamasaki Nishino Masako Nakano, Special
Masako Nakano, Shotsuki (Jul, Aug, Sep Oct, Nov, Dec)
Hideko Azama, In Memory of mother, Hatsuko Azama
Rodney/Wanda Tomooka, In Memory of Chikayoshi Tomooka
Joan Henretta, In Memory of Nobuko Kitajima
Lee/Frances Humphrey, Special
Dan Iriyama, Shotsuki (Sep)
Satoshi Kanuma, Special
Keith Lyon, Special
Hugh Maenaga, In Memory of Jan ShirasuTamaki
Hugh Maenaga, Special
Alice Maxon, Special
Watari Minami, In Memory of Norman Miyake and Shotsuki (Sep)
Tomiko Miyamoto, Special
Tomiko Miyamoto, Special
Sumi Schumacher, Special
Esther Trejo, In Memory of George Shiroma
Alice Utsunomiya, Shotsuki (Sep) Kirk Morri, In Memory of Dave Steller
Hello Sangha,
After all our activities at Obon, I do not have much regarding the goings on for the Church. In preparation for JACL visit, Alice Maxon pulled some documentation which afforded me a view to the Churches past I was not aware of. So I am going to include a few items. This may be a refresher for some of the more veteran of the Sangha or new information for some of the newer members.
1. 1899 Japanese were working supporting the Union Sugar Refinery around the big curve on Betteravia road. In 1909 they numbered approximately 500 so they formed an association to benefit the local Japanese folks called Kyogikai. They decided to bring religion to their people and sent out requests to Christian and Buddhist organizations. Buddhist responded first out of LA. San Francisco officially appointed the first minister and a small residence was rented with a scroll of Amida Buddha as its center. The first church was completed in 1914 on the then Main Street where Gonzalez Automotive currently resides. This is why we celebrate our start in 1909 while the historical folks frequently use 1914 as our start as they focus on the building.
2. 1933 For his 60th birthday in July, the first Church President, Mr. Tanaka donated the altar which was installed in the 1st church on Main Street then moved to our current building in 1960. So this past July, the altar was 90 years old. Looks pretty good for 90 doesn’t it? Remember there are still members that were present for both the initial installation and its move in 1960.
3. The “Boy Scout” room is older than our current meeting hall. The name started around 1937 when at the time, Boy Scouts met there. The building went through major renovation to its current appearance in 2003.
4. 1942 During the FBI Internment, Mr & Mrs Fisk, long time Guadalupe residents were dedicated friends of the Japanese community and moved into the rear area of the church as caretakers for the buildings and made sure the bills were paid so the church could continue while all the Sangha and people responsible for church were forced into relocation. Mr. Fisk was successful and the church survived to later be able to provide support for the returning Japanese families helping them get on their feet after the Relocation. For his efforts Mr. Fisk was fired from his job at the Guadalupe plant of the Puritan Ice Co. in 1944 and forced to sell his home. Mr. Fisk died of a sudden heart attack in November 1944.
5. Groundbreaking for the current hall was on Feb. 11, 1960 and less than 8 months later, October 1, our current hall was completed. A little over 7 months to complete and furnish the building ready for occupancy, must have been a whole lot of action in a small amount of time.
So, enough with church history for now. Please let me know if you liked or disliked this information being presented in the newsletter.
In full disclosure, I was not here for any of these events. I am a newbie and only reporting on interesting documents found in our church office.
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SOCIAL SUNDAYS – We started Social Sundays so the Sangha can gather and enjoy each other on Sundays we do not have Church Services. Starts at 9:30 and continues to around 11:30, we are not punching a clock. We can watch a football game, it may not be your game of choice, or watch a movie, or play some games or cards or just sit back and drink some coffee and talk with your neighbors. The purpose is simply to enjoy life and your friends. Everyone does not have to do the same things, we have sufficient space to host a variety of activities. Let me know if there is anything you would particularly like to do at the Social Sundays.
Minister’s Message
I am sorry but I had technical issues getting the message to you by the time we had to get the newsletters printed for mail. When the issues are resolved we will send it electronically or for the mailed recipients we will include in next month’s mailing. Agin, sorry for the omission.
You can still go to YouTube for Rev Nakano’s Dharma messages As well as services on the 1st and 3rd Sundays.
In Gassho
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