COAT

Description: BLUE QUILTED NYLON JACKET. BLUE PLASTIC ZIPPER, ELASTIC TUBE CUFFS, POLO COLLAR, AND BROAD WELT SIDE POCKETS. WHITE AND BLUE NYLON LABEL INSIDE COLLAR READS "WORK LEISURE" AND HAS "SEARS" LOGO. INSIDE RIGHT POCKET IS TORN.

History: JACKET BELONGED TO DONOR'S FATHER, REV. CANON G.G. NAKAYAMA, WHO WORE IT TO WORK IN THE GARDEN AND AROUND THE HOUSE IN HIS SPARE TIME. THE NAKAYAMA FAMILY WAS ORIGINALLY FROM VANCOUVER BUT MOVED TO COALDALE FOLLOWING THE SECOND WORLD WAR WHEN THEY WERE INTERNED AT SLOCAN CITY IN THE INTERIOR OF BRITISH COLUMBIA BY THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT. THE DONOR'S FATHER, REV. CANON G.G. NAKAYAMA, WAS AN ANGLICAN MINISTER IN VANCOUVER, AND THEN ESTABLISHED THE CHURCH OF THE ASCENSION IN COALDALE IN 1945 WHERE HE SERVED UNTIL 1970. SEE RECORD P19970041001 FOR EXPANDED BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION AND PERMANENT FILE FOR FURTHER HISTORY. THE FOLLOWING MEMORIES WERE PROVIDED BY REVEREND TIM NAKAYAMA IN A LETTER TO THE GALT ON 16 AUGUST, 2007. HE WROTE: “[MY FATHER] LIKED TO DO GARDENING. HE SHOWED ME HOW TO HANDLE A PICK, SHOVEL, AND HOE, TURNING THE SOD, AND BREAKING UP AND SEPARATING CLODS OF EARTH FROM CRAB GRASS AND WEEDS LIKE DANDELIONS, PREPARING VIRGIN LAND SO THAT POTATOES, FOR EXAMPLE, COULD BE PLANTED AS THE CROP TO PREPARE THE SOIL FOR OTHER USES. THE PLACES WE MOVED TO: SLOCAN CITY, AND COALDALE, HAD RICH SOILS THAT HAD BEEN EITHER LEFT FALLOW FOR A LONG PERIOD OF TIME, OR WERE VIRGIN AREAS. IN THE MOUNTAINOUS AREA OF SLOCAN, POTENTIAL AREAS FOR GARDENING WERE VERY ROCKY. COALDALE HAD SMOOTH GUMBO SOIL, WHICH TURNED INTO A STICKY CLAY-LIKE CONDITION WHEN IT RAINED, OR IRRIGATION WATER WAS ALLOWED TO POUR OVER THE LAND.”