It is a clear reflection of the fact that I have always been future oriented in my thoughts and actions, that I’ve never written a blog post about my dear departed grandfather before. It is high time!
My memories of my grandfather are few and very sweet. The first that comes to mind was when he gave me my cross. He had made a deal with all of his grandchildren, that as soon as they had memorized the Lord’s Prayer and recited it to him successfully, that we would receive one of these silver crosses, several of which he had an artist custom make for him.
We were at his retirement home in Ft Collins, Colorado, which overlooked the reservoir. It was a beautiful sunny morning. I was so proud and pleased!
As an adult, I remember him giving me this somewhat cryptic advice. He said something to the effect of, “There is only one path!” As he said it, he swept his hand upwards in a dramatic motion, palms facing each other, from his waist to over his head. “If you fall off of the one path, you must return to it!” For me this advice, that led to no further explanation or discussion, at least that I remember, has always been like a Buddhist Kōan, something to contemplate but never fixate on one interpretation. Advice to revisit every few years, to see what it brings in the current context.
As a person that was never good at memorizing historical facts, I wouldn’t even attempt to recount my version of his life to you here! Luckily, he wrote his memoirs in Japanese and after he died they were translated into English. There are also lots of wonderful web pages about him. To be honest, I have not read them all to properly curate which links to share here, there are so many!
Since I am so future oriented, I can’t publish this page without proudly including the latest development in my family as relates to my grandpa Kano. My nephew, born Aaron Kano-Bower, has recently married Mia Benjamin. When they married, the decided to take the Kano name. So the Kano surname will continue, to the next generation after all (they do plan to have children, God willing). After they married, Mia completed her Seminary degree and has now been ordained an Episcopal minister! So there is a now new Rev. Kano, doing her best to follow in her saintly great grandfather in-laws footsteps! I couldn’t be happier.
Photos below are of my grandfather Rev Hiram H. Kano and Rev Mia Kano. Note Mia’s cross!
When I heard the news about them taking the Kano name, my heart leaped for joy. I had not known until that moment how important it was to me for that name to continue down my father’s line! You see, my wife and I (now divorced) hyphenated our names together when we married, so my to girls are both Munsey-Kano. I never thought it was a big deal, having the name morph and be “lost,” since rest of my siblings are women and their children were not given the Kano surname. But I guess I felt more strongly about it than I realized!