By Carolyn Tokunaga
On Saturday, August 27, as part of Centenary United Methodist Church’s 125th Anniversary Celebration, a reunion of the Girls’ Clubs, Boys’ Y Clubs, and MYF (Methodist Youth Fellowship) was held.
Beginning in the 1950s at Centenary’s 35th and Normandie site, new Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs were formed every year for over two decades. The clubs provided fellowship and learning, opportunities for community outreach and avenues to contribute to the life of the church. With active participation of boys and their dads and girls and their moms, family bonds were strengthened and parents had wonderful ways to build ties with not only their children but with other parents. By the early 1990s, the last of the kids were young adults. This wonderful program of faith building, friendship development, fellowship and service would come to its conclusion.
125 people attended this event as participants reconnected with people from their childhood and teenage years. From the hugs and cacophony of voices in the room, it was a joyful and happy time. Programming was kept to a minimum but it didn’t matter, people were so excited to see each other that it was impossible to quell the conversations. All had wonderful memories to share, funny stories to tell, and exploits to remember. There were also decades of lives lived to catch up on.
Some club members brought memorabilia from their club days to share. It was fun to look at childhood pictures, read news articles, and review events of over 50 years ago.
We thank the reunion committee of Brian Kurushima, Jane Shohara Matsumoto, Kendric Kajikawa, Michele Nagata, Randy Onishi, Susan Saito Onishi, Tom Saruwatari, and Vicky Nishinaka Leon for organizing this wonderful afternoon.
Go to https://youtu.be/y0fUs4JLHz8 and see the video of the Girls’ Clubs, Boys’ Y Clubs, and MYF Reunion on Centenary’s YouTube channel.
