by Sumi Kobayashi
from the November 2008 issue of Medford Leas Life
It began on the fringes of a small Japanese farming community near Livingston, CA, in the early 1920s. Takashi Moriuchi and Lafayette Noda were neighbors, and the families helped each other with farming chores when needed. The two families began celebrating Thanksgiving together when Tak and Lafayette were children. They made the holiday a time to share a turkey, good food and family solidarity.
Lafayette was three years older than Tak and had eight brothers and sisters; Tak was an only child. Because of the difference in ages and family structures, the two did not share common experiences until they enrolled in the University of California at Berkeley. Both had graduated by the time war came.
With World War II and evacuation and internment of Japanese Americans, Lafayette and Tak went their separate ways. Tak settled in New Jersey, became a successful farmer, banker and businessman, a member of the Society of Friends in Moorestown, and a founder of Medford Leas. Lafayette, meanwhile, pursued a scientific career and worked in Maryland. When they found they were living not far from each other in the early 1970s, they renewed their friendship.
Tak and Lafayette again began celebrating Thanksgiving together, now including their wives and children, one year in Moorestown, the next year in New England. By that time Lafayette had joined the faculty of Dartmouth College, from which he later retired as head of the Biochemistry Department. Although the Moriuchis moved into Medford Leas, the children and grandchildren of both families have continued the tradition.
The sharing of the Thanksgiving spirit that began more than 80 years ago on the other side of the continent continued until the infirmities of advancing age made it impractical to do so. Today the several generations of Moriuchis and Nodas are still close: the Ties that Bind of a shared tradition.