Andrews, Emery E., 1894-1976

Minister, Japanese Baptist Church, Seattle, Wash.

Born in Nebraska in 1894, Emery Andrews grew up in California and in 1919 settled in Seattle with his family. Andrews earned sociology and education degrees from the University of Washington, and in 1929 he became pastor of the Japanese Baptist Church of Seattle. With the forced incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, Rev. Andrews began making almost daily visits to Camp Harmony Assembly Center in Puyallup, Washington. When the inmates were transferred to the Minidoka Relocation Center in Hunt, Idaho, in 1942, Rev. Andrews moved his family to a nearby town so that he could continue to minister to the Japanese. In 1945 he and his family returned to Seattle; the Japanese Baptist Church was reopened in 1946. Rev. Andrews spent several summers as a volunteer for Houses for Hiroshima, an organization formed by pacifist Floyd Schmoe to build homes for atomic bomb survivors in Japan. Rev. Andrews retired from the Japanese Baptist Church in 1959 and died in Seattle in 1976.

From the description of Emery E. Andrews papers, 1925-1969 (bulk 1942-1947). (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 50038416

Emery E. Andrews was an esteemed pastor at Seattle's Japanese Baptist Church who devoted the bulk of his adult life to ministering to Japanese communities in Washington State, the U.S., and Japan. Born July 29, 1894, in Albion, Nebraska, "Andy" moved with his family at age two to a farm outside Modesto, California. At age ten he became a member of his local First Baptist Church and was licensed to preach at age 19, one year before he graduated from high school. For the next three years he pursued theological training at the Bible Institute of Los Angeles and in 1916 was married to Mary Brooks in Orting, Washington, a small town in the foothills of Mt. Rainier. In 1917, he was ordained to the ministry by his home church in Modesto, California. There, he worked among the local Italian and Mexican communities while attending Los Angeles Junior College.

In 1919, he and his wife and infant daughter moved to Seattle, where Reverend Andrews worked at the Cosmopolitan Mission while attending the University of Washington. After receiving a B.A. in Sociology in 1922 and a Five-year Teaching Diploma in 1929, Rev. Andrews became pastor to the Nisei community at the Japanese Baptist Church. He received his second B.A., in Education, from the University of Washington in 1931.

The start of the War in the Pacific in late 1941 -- and the subsequent, rapid forced removal of tens of thousands of persons of Japanese descent to incarceration centers throughout the West in 1942 -- was a major turning point in Rev. Andrews's ministry and life. The entire congregation that he served for thirteen years suddenly absent, Rev. Andrews made almost daily visits to the Camp Harmony Assembly Center in Puyallup, Washington. When inmates were transferred to the Minidoka relocation center in Hunt, Idaho, in September 1942, Rev. Andrews and his family moved to the nearby town of Twin Falls so that he could continue to minister to the Japanese. There, he leased a home much larger than his family needed in order to provide a stopping-off place for Japanese going to and from the center (an average of 167 Japanese visited the house every month). In addition, from 1942-1945, he made fifty-six trips from Twin Falls -- covering 1,500 miles each time -- to retrieve cars and other goods stored for Japanese Americans at the Japanese Baptist Church in Seattle. He also traveled extensively to other incarceration centers.

Rev. Andrews' commitment to Japanese Americans during World War II involved extraordinary personal sacrifices and risks. Because of his association with the inmates at Minidoka, he was refused service in a Twin Falls cafe. Several months later the cafe owner purchased the house Rev. Andrews had leased and ordered him to move. He was also, for a brief time, the subject of an F.B.I. investigation.

In January 1945, he and his family returned to their farm near Seattle and reopened the Japanese Baptist Church the following year. Rev. Andrews spent the summers of 1949 and 1951 as a volunteer for "Houses of Hiroshima," a private relief organization formed by pacifist/writer Floyd Schmoe to rebuild homes for victims of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Rev. Andrews resigned as pastor of the church in December 1955 and was asked at that time to continue as the Minister of Visitation. He retired in 1959 and was named Pastor Emeritus. In 1970, the Emperor of Japan awarded Rev. Andrews the Fifth Order of the Sacred Treasure. He died of a heart attack in 1976 at the age of 81.

From the guide to the Emery E. Andrews Papers, 1925-1969, 1942-1947, (University of Washington Libraries Special Collections)