Prologue

Recently, I’ve posted interviews on this site with my sister, Beth Copeland.

I’m fortunate to have three older sisters!

I decided I would share more about my other sisters.

Next, I’ll give Joy Copeland Lineback her turn.

When I was growing up, Joy was the sister I most favored. There are photographs of her as a little girl, and when these were set alongside photos of me, it was difficult to tell us apart!

Joy (in high school) and Becky (in 4th grade)

We both had brown hair, though Joy’s was a deeper chestnut than mine, and we both shared a mischievous grin. Although she was born with cerebral palsy, Joy was the sister who taught me to turn cartwheels and shoot baskets.

Mother liked to say that Joy was “sassy,” because Joy never settled for a simple answer. She was curious and observant. Of all of us, Joy was the one to remember details. Long after a dinner with a random guest, Joy could recall what they ate, how much they weighed, and by how many years they were older than their spouse.

Joy applied her sharp and inquisitive mind to becoming a social worker. Later she married, moved with her husband, Larry, to California, and raised two boys. Now she’s the grandmother to six grandchildren.

I thought I’d ask Joy about certain aspects of her life. Let’s start with her childhood.

Joy: I have memory fragments, some very vivid, of my first seven years, most of which were spent in Japan.

My childhood in Japan was charmed in many ways. As an American child, I had many positive experiences interacting with Japanese people and learning about their culture. Since our father was Chancellor of Seinan Gakuin University from 1952-1956, we were often the center of attention. And that meant we really needed to be on our best behavior in public.

Becky: Let’s back up a bit. Can you tell us more about how you came to be in Japan?

Joy: Well, I was born at Grace New Haven Hospital in New Haven, CT on January 14, 1949, three weeks after my “due date.”

It was a busy time for our parents. They were taking Japanese language classes at Yale University preparing to go as Southern Baptist missionaries to Japan. In the late summer of 1949, I arrived in Japan with Mother and Daddy and our sister Judy, who was two years old.

We travelled from the U.S. by ocean liner and rode the train from Yokohama to Fukuoka on Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan’s main islands.

Copeland Family on the Seinan Campus, 1950. Joy 23 months; Judy three years old.

Daddy was assigned to teach at Seinan Gakuin University and Seminary in Fukuoka. I arrived as an eight-month-old infant.

Becky: Did you learn to speak Japanese?

Joy: I am told that I learned to speak Japanese and English together, though I have no memory of conversing freely in Japanese. I now understand only isolated words and phrases and a few children’s songs in Japanese.

Becky: What is your earliest memory?

Joy: I think my earliest memory is of my second birthday.

Judy and I were staying with the Moorheads, who as you know were also missionaries. Mother was in the hospital on the military base giving birth to our sister Beth, and it just so happened that she was born on my two-year birthday!

Becky: Well, that was quite a present!

Joy: Yes it was!

It wasn’t the only present, though.

“Aunt” Thelma Moorhead gave me a set of tiny miniature glass animals. They were finely painted, and not the usual age-appropriate gift for a two-year-old child! I wonder if our sudden sleep-over caught Aunt Thelma by surprise. Probably she hadn’t realized it was my birthday, so she gave me something from her own gift supply.

In any case, I liked the animals, but don’t remember what happened to them after that day.

She also managed to surprise me with a cake.

I have a distinct memory of sitting at a child-size square table just inside the Moorheads’ back door and eating cake.

Becky: See, you were already remembering details about what people ate, even when you were just two years old!

Joy: Haha, I guess so. I remember other things, too, of course.

Our first home was a prefabricated house on the Seinan campus.

[Japan was still devastated by war when the Copeland family arrived. So as to not further tax the struggling economy, missionaries were required to bring all the provisions they would need to survive for four years. This included food and clothing but also appliances, a car to share, and even their own prefabricated housing. When they sailed to Japan in 1949, the Copelands brought along a house of corrugated tin.]

I remember one morning after a typhoon damaged our roof, a family friend took Judy and me out for a walk to get us away from the damage, I guess so they could make repairs without us getting in the way.

I also recall going to the zoo located on the top of a tall department store in Fukuoka. That day there was a lot of commotion and people were running about. Judy reports that this was because the elephant had escaped his cage. Apparently, I fell down while running away from him. Funny that I don’t remember that part.

I do remember being hospitalized when I was three years old because I had a severe case of diarrhea. I can still see the hospital bed as high as my head. I had brought a small toy umbrella with me. I remember being very upset when an older boy on the unit broke it. Before I was discharged, they gave me a shot (I’m told, Penicillin) in my butt with a big needle!

I had to stay in the hospital all by myself for several days and our parents report that for days afterward I asked repeatedly, “Why did you leave me there?”

Becky: But that must have been scary for a little girl to be all alone in a hospital, stranded on a high bed, surrounded by strangers.

Joy: It was scary.

But not as scary as the time a strange man picked me up and started running away with me!

Becky: What?

Joy: Yes. It happened when we were leaving Fukuoka to return to the States for furlough. That would have been in 1953 so I must have been about four. Our family was on the platform at the station. The train was already there, and a crowd had gathered to see us off, each person shouting out their farewells. The train started moving before we could all get on.

Daddy was holding infant Beth in the door of the train shouting for us to hurry, Judy and Mother started running together with assistance from others who helped them get on, too. A young Japanese man, who I didn’t know, quickly lifted me and started running.

He handed me to Daddy. We all got on the train!

But for days afterwards, I dwelled on this experience, according to our parents, asking repeatedly, “Why did that man pick me up?”

Becky: But you didn’t know he was trying to help you. I’m sure you were terrified thinking that he was running off with you.

Joy: Yes, I was pretty scared. It turns out he was a Seinan student and obviously just trying to help. Everything was so chaotic with all the well-wishers pressing in to say goodbye.

Becky: Wow, a rampaging elephant, abandoned at the hospital, and kidnapped by a strange man! Your childhood sounded traumatic!

Joy: Oh, not at all. I guess it’s just the scary things that stick in your mind. Most of our experiences in Japan were wonderful, and not all of my train memories were frightening.

I have especially fond memories of eating on the train: mikans (tangerines), obento with maki and inari-zushi, mochi balls, and my favorite, manju (sweet bean cakes).

In 1952 the family moved to Hoshiguma, northwest of Fukuoka City, where they lived in close proximity to other missionaries.

Joy: The highlight of our early years in Japan was moving into a brand-new missionary home!
I remember we girls had a large bedroom that could be divided into two rooms by sliding doors. We loved staging dramas in the room, sliding the doors open to reveal our stage. Judy was always the director. “The Three Little Pigs” was our favorite.

It was quite a large house. I remember a spacious living room with an adjacent dining room, a kitchen, and a study for Daddy. Besides our parent’s room there was a guest bedroom, and a big bathroom. At one end of the house was an apartment for our two Japanese maids, Tamiko-san and Okuma-san. We enjoyed a close bond with them. They helped with housework and were our caregivers. They also played games with us.

Mostly, though, we played with other MKs (missionary kids). Together, we explored our neighborhood through an imaginary game called, “Magic Land” that Judy created. In the game we stomped on the lid to our septic tank to enter Magic Land and stomped on it again when we were ready to leave.

“Magic Land” changed all the familiar landmarks around our home into special fantasy places. Once Judy, Jack Garrott—another MK—, and I tried to dig our way to China to find the Abominable Snowman. I recall Daddy finally put a stop to this activity!

Becky: There must have been a lot of time spent in church, too.

Joy: Of course. We attended church every Sunday at the Seinan Baptist Church. I recall that the services were long and in Japanese.

On Sunday afternoons the missionary families gathered in each other’s homes for children’s Sunday School. I recall a lot of singing!

At home, our parents led a daily devotional before breakfast. They had a list of all the Southern Baptist missionaries around the world separated out by who had birthdays when. Daddy led us in prayer and noted each missionary by name on their birthday. We girls got the giggles when praying for missionaries with uncommon last names, such as “Longbottom, “Outhouse,” or “Hogg.”

Becky: Oops, I bet that didn’t go over well with the parents.

Joy: Right! Each time we got scolded for being “irreverent.”

Becky: Do you have memories of other naughty behavior?

Joy: I’m sure we all tried to be good!

But once, I decided to cut my hair. I actually don’t remember the incident myself, but Mother told me about it. See, Beth had blonde curls that fascinated the Japanese people. I had brown hair that was straight.  I became jealous of all the attention given to Beth, so I decided to cut my hair and her hair. I was just three or so.

I took a pair of scissors and whacked the hair on one side of my head, then started on Beth’s hair. That’s when Mother caught me.

Joy at 2 years old with her “boy’s cut.”

Beth was spared, but Mother had to cut my hair short to even it out. I practically had a boy’s haircut!

Becky: Oh, I’ve seen the photographs! I thought you looked really cute though!

Joy: I recall an outing we took after we returned from furlough in 1954. Our parents’ Japanese friend, Matsuishi-san, showed us around the Daimyo Castle in Yanagawa near Fukuoka. We girls played on the grounds with ducks at the lake.

Later, when we sat down to dinner at a restaurant, they served roasted duck. I ate a little yet remembered feeling it was wrong to eat the ducks with whom we had just played.

Matsuishi-san gave each of us girls a beautiful Hakata doll.

He was so nice to us! Judy tells me that on the car ride back to Fukuoka I chanted repeatedly, “I like Mr. Matsuishi!” I even wrote this in the condensation on the car window with my finger.

Becky: Oh my! Joy’s first crush! Do you still have the doll?

Joy at home in Roseville, California with her Hakata doll.

Joy: Yes. I played with her so much that I’ve had to glue her hands and head back on a time or two, but I still have her!

Becky: I guess back then it wasn’t very common to see Americans, especially children. What was it like when you were out in public?

Joy: We girls attracted lots of attention everywhere we went in Japan—especially little blonde Beth, as I’ve said.

Sometimes we heard people calling us “America-jin” or “Gai-jin.” I recall my sisters and I waiting in the car once with the windows rolled up while our parents were away briefly on an errand. Crowds of people surrounded the car with their noses pressed to the windows as they looked in at us. We could hear them chattering about us, too.

If there was a camera around, we would soon hear the shutters begin clicking whenever we were spotted. Sometimes I’d get so tired of the attention that I’d make a silly face for the camera.

For the most part, though, people were kind to us.

Becky: Like Mr. Matsuishi?

Joy: Yes, like him. But also strangers. I especially remember how we little girls, and our MK friends, traveled across the city to our school at the American military base. Strangers often looked out for us.

Becky: I look forward to hearing more about your adventures!

Please keep your eye out for our next installment. Joy will share memories of attending school at the Itazuke Air Base and more.