1920 – 44
In the beginning…. In 1914, David Lyman, former Episcopal priest joined St. John the
Evangelist Episcopal Church in downtown Stockton. He brought with him solid
community connections and a deep and sincere concern about workers out on the
Delta, many of them Japanese, who were too far from the churches in town to attend.
So Mr. Lyman decided to minister to them where they lived, and convinced other lay
leaders from St. John’s to help. This lay group held regular Sunday Morning Prayer
services in Terminous, with occasional communions being offered by the Bishop of the
Mission Diocese of San Joaquin. In 1928 a group of mothers living in the Terminous
area asked if a building to house a Sunday School for their children could be erected
there. David Lyman’s response, with financial backing from St. John’s, the Mission
Diocese of San Joaquin, and churches across the country, was to build Emmanuel
Chapel, literally with his own two hands. The little church was consecrated in 1930 and
served the people of Terminous until WW2, when many of the congregants, who were
of Japanese descent, were sent to internment camps for the duration of the War. The
rationing of gas made it difficult to continue to serve the congregation…and finally the
little Chapel became a community hall, Boy Scout meeting place, and library for the next
several years.