メリディアン
日本語
帰還宣教師から
From Returned Missionaries
George McCune's Tribute to Tatsui Sato
A Tribute To
BROTHER TATSUI SATO
Part VI
Tokyo Temple Mission
The Satos then were called to be some of the first temple missionaries in the new Tokyo LDS Temple when it was dedicated by President Spencer W. Kimball in October 1980. Tatsui was set apart as a temple sealer for that service in 1982. Sister Tomiko Sato returned to her last four years employment at the LDS Genealogical Society before retiring in 1986 after 20 full years of service. During this time, she was the major force in organizing Japanese genealogical record keeping.
Brother Sato stayed busy translating even to the 1980's. His last translation of a complete book published in Japanese was The Blessings of Temple Marriage released in Japanese in 1991. Before the author ended his interview with the Satos, Brother Sato volunteered the following: "Some saints have said this day the Book of Mormon translation I completed is too difficult Japanese to understand. They would like it changed. President Clissold asked me to change the 1909 translation so young people could understand. I have no problem with changing the Japanese into easier understandable language I think it should be. There are a lot of English words in use in Japanese now."
Brother Sato has a righteous posterity. In addition to his son, Yasuo, living in Japan, he has helped raise a son and daughter of Tomiko's. Daughter Michi served a mission in 1970 in Japan, serving part of it at the Mormon Pavilion at the 1970 Expo World's Fair in Osaka. In July 1992, she and her husband Douglas Matsumori returned from their second missions to Japan after serving as mission parents of the Kobe Mission for three years, Son Koji served a mission to Fukuoka in 1972- 1974 and operates a successful medical supply business in Denver.
And
Tomiko Sato cannot be left out. If there was ever a loyal companion to a
husband, it has been Sister Tomiko Sato. Besides being heavily weighted
with treasures in heaven herself through multitudinous years of selfless
service to her own ancestors, she has assisted untold numbers of saints
and others prepare their genealogies for the LDS temple ordinances.
She has on numerous occasions been impressed to do certain work including gathering and submitting names for temple ordinances of all of the Japanese immigrants she could find who have come to America or resided in Utah. Her home has been the reception center for numerous invited guests, many unknown to the Satos until their visit for dinner, always treated to lavish hospitality, congeniality and food.
In her loyalty to her husband, Brother Sato, she took royal care of him right up to the date of his passing on the evening of June 15, 1996 at 10:30 P.M. at home in bed in SLC, age 96. She has been required to provide 24 hour care for years during Brother Sato's last years.
Brother Tatsui. Sato and Sister Tomiko Sato's unpretentious home has always been a center of education. Brother Sato, until the day he died, always rewarded every visitor to his home with knowledge previously unknown to the guest. He was always "sharing" what he had. And Sister Sato always provided every visitor with unfeigned hospitality and friendship.
Truly, Brother Tatsui Sato was prepared by the Lord to perform his priceless work for the Japanese people. Truly, Tomiko Sato was similarly prepared to perform selfless and priceless work for the Japanese people and their ancestors. May the appreciation with which the Satos are now revered always remain in our hearts. May we never forget the righteous examples of this true professor of wisdom and truth and his wonderful wife, Tomiko.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Personal interviews of George M. McCune with Tatsui Sato and Tomiko Sato, 2546 South 800 East, Salt Lake City, Utah 84106 on March 9, 1992; March 27, 1992 and December 25, 1993.
Telephone interview of George M. McCune with Kathy Andrus, Secretary to President Ezra Taft Benson, 47 East South Temple, Salt Lake. City, Utah, March 17, 1992.
Telephone interview of George M. McCune with Tomiko Sato, Salt Lake City, Utah, December 29, 1992.
Telephone interview of George M. McCune with Janice, Secretary to Salt Lake Temple President Osborn, Much 17, 1992.
Telephone and personal interviews of George M. McCune with Reed Davis, 2645 West Kamas Drive, Salt Lake City, Utah 84118, December 14 & 15, 1994.
Telephone interview of Georges M. McCune with Norton Nixon, Salt Lake City, Utah, December 13, 1994.
Telephone interviews of George M. McCune with Dr. Thomas Bauman, Salt Lake City, Utah and Melvin Arnold, Las Vegas, Nevada on December 14, 1994.
Personal Record of Tatsui Sato in Book of Remembrance of Tatsui and Tomiko Sato, 2546 South 800 East, Salt Lake City, Utah 84106.
Tatsui Sato Manuscript Collection MS2715, Manuscript Archives, LDS Historical Department, Salt Lake City, Utah.
"The Minute[book] of Christian Meeting[s]," from November 15, 1946, by Tatsui Sato, 182 Shukuji, Narumi-soi, Narumi. Aichi-gun, Aichiken, Japan.
Japan Mission Manuscript Collection MS.LIk.4187, 26, Manuscript Archives, LDS 'Historical Department, Salt Lake City, Utah.
Gordon B. Hinckley Manuscript Collection MS5066, Manuscript Archives, LDS Historical Department, Salt Lake City, Utah.
Scrapbook and Photo Album of Reed Davis, 2645 West Kama s Drive, Salt Lake City, Utah 84118, to be donated to Tatsui Sato Manuscript Collection MS2715, ibid
Church News, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1965- 1970.
Improvement Era, March 1962.
The Genealogical Society Observer, May 1970.
Pictures: 1) Temple Workers in Tokyo including Brother and Sister Sato. 2) Sister Tomiko Sato at her home in December, 2007.