Saturday, November 2, 2024
I remember Sawako-nesan in Royston before I started school. I only knew Japanese and I remember her desperately trying to teach me English and she was actually crying because I couldn’t learn English fast enough before I started school. I remember also another odd thing, she and my three other sisters, they used to come home and while they were doing dishes they would sing Christmas carols and one of the carols they sang was OH COME ALL YE FAITHFUL and I remember them singing “Oh come ee oh come ee to Bethlehem” and I was thinking why are they singing about a wolf? Because in Japanese ‘okami’ is a wolf....
I remember her in Sandon. She was a very good singer, the best singer and she won a prize at a concert. And she has a memoir in our book of memories where she says in Sandon she was asked by the nuns from Quebec, (they were the high school teachers), they asked her to come in and they said, “Sawako, we’d like you to become a nun in Quebec” and she told them “I’m sorry, but I’m a Buddhist,” so that was that.
And Sawako-nesan also worked for, (I forget the name of the company, but she was a very accomplished typist and stenographer) and she worked for the Vice-President of this company and his name was Syl Apps, the famous hockey player. Sawako-nesan was the secretary for him. This indicates that she was a very talented girl.
I would like Kathryn, Matthew, Karen and children to remember her as a very talented and kind person.
Roy Sato
