When Robby was six weeks old I became pregnant with my second child who happened to be a girl. I named her Heidi after one of my favorite children's stories and she had that sweet little white face with dark hair. She was a breeze. She wasn't hungry, or fussy but she got very very sick when she was 2 mos old with a high fever. I was so worried but she recovered well.
I was having a terrible time though. Dickie was drinking a lot. He was mean. He wouldn't help me even though I was bleeding a lot after the birth. I actually remember I thought I would bleed to death and he refused to take me to the doctor.
Robby was walking and trying to always get out the door and run...Heidi was her quiet little sweet self. She had straight black hair and a little crooked nose. (which did finally straighten out)
I was ISOLATED from all my friends and family. We only had one car so I only had a neighbor to talk to. Her name was Thelma Moss. She was so kind.She did keep her distance though. She probably thought he was a raging maniac.
. Dickie was extremely jealous and possessive and a cleaning fanatic...he checked the baseboards for cleanliness and I was a bit afraid of him. The first real dinner party we had was for his office friends. He was now selling insurance. I made meatloaf, baked potatoes and salad. I cleaned the house from top to bottom and had the 2 dogs and 2 babys to watch.
The first guests began arriving and came into the living room to a big pile of dog POOP..my little cocker spanials were not happy about all this company and got too excited...
.........then, the oven stated smoking and all the baking potatoes were burning and on fire.That did it. The next day I was so upset at everything, I called my doctor, my baby's doctor and cried my heart out.
Dr. Miller came from the city ..drove to Tiburon, to take me and the kids to one of his friends houses to talk and hear her story. HER child had drowned in their pool.
In other words, Jody, get into perspective. I still couldn't stand it. We were in debt because we could not afford the payments for this new home but Dickie insisted that we buy it with my mothers' money (it wasn't that much of a down payment, really.) We were in debt and I was over worked and overwhelmed with loneliness and being so far from my friends and any family. I was so close to a breakdown. All I could think of was moving back to Hawaii. Our home went up for forclosure, Dickie filed bankrupcy and we did move back...now we had three kids. Robby, Heidi and Tiare.
Tia was born at French Hospital 14 monthes after Heidi was born. She was born 15 min after I entered the hospital door...Dickie and the two kids and I were at the Drive Inn theater in San Rafael, watching The Great Escape starring Steve McQueen when I went in to hard labor. We rushed over the Golden Gate Bridge in our little VW Bug and almost had her on the way. Tiare was born in 1963 with curly locks and a lot of spunk in the first room that had a gurney in it. She was also pretty shy and quiet. She slept her first few months in a dresser drawer...it worked just fine...it was on the floor.
I always loved the name Tiare, a fragrant flower known in Tahiti, and one day at the park in Tiburon, before she was born, I had the 2 kids playing with another little girl who was with her grandmother. Her grannie called her "Tia" and that was so cute, I thought, and asked about her real name and it was Tiare. That was it. If my next baby was a girl, she would be Tiare. So it was.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
THE LAUGHTER AND PAIN
One thing that happened in Honolulu while prepping for the wedding, at my Mom's house on Kolohala St, there was a knock on the door...there stood Johnny. He finished the marines, had met a girl visiting on Maui and they were also getting married. We both hugged and knew there was still tons of chemistry but the timing was impossible and it was too late to be together.
1960 we each married someone else that was "second choice", for very different reasons. They would live on Maui and we would live in the San Francisco area of Pacifica. Our first child was born in St Lukes Hospital, their's a year later in Maui Memorial, each a boy. They went on to having 2 more boys and we, two girls.
This all reminds me of another Johnny story in high school.
He decided to loan me his corvette (stick shift of course) while he took a trip home to Maui for a few weeks. I was excited but had no clue how to drive it..and I didnt tell him that small detail. He jumped out at the airport and handed me the keys. I jerked that little bomber like it was ready to throw up..and of course I stalled it too. I made it home, parked it in our driveway, and the next morning it had rolled in to the middle of the street...Of course I didn't know you had to leave it "in gear"...and I never told him.
I had a really easy delivery with my son, my first child, Robert. He was born on June 24, 1961 and I was 20 years old. He was 8 lbs8 oz and I was one of the first to have natural childbirth. I had gone to classes to learn the breathing techniques . They also provided a private labor nurse in my room to help me remember how to concentrate on my breath. I remember her saying "think in your throat..think in your throat" the theory being that ones mind can only think of one place at a time ie I could not think of the pain that was happening down below.
These doctors & hospital were the very first to allow the fathers to watch the delivery, but Dickie couldn't bear it. He was there for the labor but couldn't take the final show. He was certainly excited to see what he did experience and the miracle of it all but he missed the wonderful happiness of being there as Rob was being pushed out of me, seeing whether he was a girl or a boy. I even had a mirror up on the wall so I could watch. It was such elation. I was so hyped that I was able to get off the gurney and carry my BABY to the hospital nursery where they would clean him up and check all his fingers and toes. My doctors worked as a team..Doctors Miller, Winch and Moss and each were at one of my childrens' births.
Rob was named after his paternal grandfather, Robert, his middle name, my Mother's maiden name. I was so ready to be a Mom..but my Mother was now in a hospital in LA, dying of her breast cancer. Her brother was caring for her and they were waiting for 2 weeks after the birth for us to fly down to see her and be with her. My milk was overflowing but it wasn't filling my boy so he was crying all the time until we figured it out...something was wrong with my milk..we put him on formula and at last we got a night's sleep. We fly to LA, my mother just looked terrible and she was on heavy doses of Morphine..she was hallucinating that my Daddy was on the phone down the hall so I had to pretend to go there and talk with him. Mama died the next day.
I was not prepared for the funeral. I was so preoccupied with motherhood that I wasn't thinking much about how sad and sorry I was that my mom had to suffer so much...that was until I saw the back hoe shoveling dirt and digging the hole. I cracked. To even write , at this moment, I can't help but cry again and choke up. It's such a terrible last memory that I must live with...that along with my sorrow over being such a brat and selfish daughter. I think this is why I write this..it is healing and it is exhaling all that stuff that you wish you could take back. Thank you whoever you are for listening.
1960 we each married someone else that was "second choice", for very different reasons. They would live on Maui and we would live in the San Francisco area of Pacifica. Our first child was born in St Lukes Hospital, their's a year later in Maui Memorial, each a boy. They went on to having 2 more boys and we, two girls.
This all reminds me of another Johnny story in high school.
He decided to loan me his corvette (stick shift of course) while he took a trip home to Maui for a few weeks. I was excited but had no clue how to drive it..and I didnt tell him that small detail. He jumped out at the airport and handed me the keys. I jerked that little bomber like it was ready to throw up..and of course I stalled it too. I made it home, parked it in our driveway, and the next morning it had rolled in to the middle of the street...Of course I didn't know you had to leave it "in gear"...and I never told him.
I had a really easy delivery with my son, my first child, Robert. He was born on June 24, 1961 and I was 20 years old. He was 8 lbs8 oz and I was one of the first to have natural childbirth. I had gone to classes to learn the breathing techniques . They also provided a private labor nurse in my room to help me remember how to concentrate on my breath. I remember her saying "think in your throat..think in your throat" the theory being that ones mind can only think of one place at a time ie I could not think of the pain that was happening down below.
These doctors & hospital were the very first to allow the fathers to watch the delivery, but Dickie couldn't bear it. He was there for the labor but couldn't take the final show. He was certainly excited to see what he did experience and the miracle of it all but he missed the wonderful happiness of being there as Rob was being pushed out of me, seeing whether he was a girl or a boy. I even had a mirror up on the wall so I could watch. It was such elation. I was so hyped that I was able to get off the gurney and carry my BABY to the hospital nursery where they would clean him up and check all his fingers and toes. My doctors worked as a team..Doctors Miller, Winch and Moss and each were at one of my childrens' births.
Rob was named after his paternal grandfather, Robert, his middle name, my Mother's maiden name. I was so ready to be a Mom..but my Mother was now in a hospital in LA, dying of her breast cancer. Her brother was caring for her and they were waiting for 2 weeks after the birth for us to fly down to see her and be with her. My milk was overflowing but it wasn't filling my boy so he was crying all the time until we figured it out...something was wrong with my milk..we put him on formula and at last we got a night's sleep. We fly to LA, my mother just looked terrible and she was on heavy doses of Morphine..she was hallucinating that my Daddy was on the phone down the hall so I had to pretend to go there and talk with him. Mama died the next day.
I was not prepared for the funeral. I was so preoccupied with motherhood that I wasn't thinking much about how sad and sorry I was that my mom had to suffer so much...that was until I saw the back hoe shoveling dirt and digging the hole. I cracked. To even write , at this moment, I can't help but cry again and choke up. It's such a terrible last memory that I must live with...that along with my sorrow over being such a brat and selfish daughter. I think this is why I write this..it is healing and it is exhaling all that stuff that you wish you could take back. Thank you whoever you are for listening.
I AM SO SORRY, MAMA
Remember the shorthand class? Well, Fay and I got together with Colleen, her brother, Dan and Dickie Lee from Maui. Fay started dating Dan and I, Dickie. I had met Dickie years before in Honolulu, briefly. He was working for Boys Clubs of America now, in charge of the SFO branch. He was half Chinese, half Portugese which I have always thought, looked Mexican...oh well.
We immediately took to each other and had a fun time in the city....parties with other kids from the islands etc. It was quite a change to be courted and meeting some "normal" people.
AND THEN I GOT PREGNANT. We immediately decided to get married but I did not want to tell my mother I was pregnant as she was now in a re occurance of her breast cancer. I did not want to upset her. I decided to plan a church wedding back at home in Honolulu and do it the way she would want. My daddy was gone and she could at least be a part of this. (in hind sight I should not have put her thorugh this disaster)
Fay and Dickie saw me off at the airport so that he could keep working and I could plan and organize the wedding to be on December 28th 1960. What I didn't know then, was that Fay and Dickie went to a party that evening, after the airport and had sex with each other.
She became pregnant but her story was that the baby was Dan's. Somehow, I KNEW by the way Dickie started acting that it was his. He wasn't allowing me to get together with Fay...not liking Fay...she had her baby 9 mos to the day after that party night. She gave the little baby boy up for adoption never admitting to whom the father was.
Our wedding was small and beautiful at Central Union. My college roommate, Anne, was my maid of honor, and my mother seemed happy, but only after we fought over everything we could. She asked if I was pregnant.I lied and said NO. I totaled her car..it wasn't my fault, but it certainly wasn't convenient. She didn't want Dickie sleeping with me in the same room. We were like at each others throats...I so regret this. We were each so full of our own pain. I am so sorry, Mama.
We immediately took to each other and had a fun time in the city....parties with other kids from the islands etc. It was quite a change to be courted and meeting some "normal" people.
AND THEN I GOT PREGNANT. We immediately decided to get married but I did not want to tell my mother I was pregnant as she was now in a re occurance of her breast cancer. I did not want to upset her. I decided to plan a church wedding back at home in Honolulu and do it the way she would want. My daddy was gone and she could at least be a part of this. (in hind sight I should not have put her thorugh this disaster)
Fay and Dickie saw me off at the airport so that he could keep working and I could plan and organize the wedding to be on December 28th 1960. What I didn't know then, was that Fay and Dickie went to a party that evening, after the airport and had sex with each other.
She became pregnant but her story was that the baby was Dan's. Somehow, I KNEW by the way Dickie started acting that it was his. He wasn't allowing me to get together with Fay...not liking Fay...she had her baby 9 mos to the day after that party night. She gave the little baby boy up for adoption never admitting to whom the father was.
Our wedding was small and beautiful at Central Union. My college roommate, Anne, was my maid of honor, and my mother seemed happy, but only after we fought over everything we could. She asked if I was pregnant.I lied and said NO. I totaled her car..it wasn't my fault, but it certainly wasn't convenient. She didn't want Dickie sleeping with me in the same room. We were like at each others throats...I so regret this. We were each so full of our own pain. I am so sorry, Mama.
LIVING DANGEROUSLY
FAY drove up from Phoenix, actually Eloy, Az in her '49 Dodge sedan..a few dents, faded paint. We bought a gallon of Peach Ice Cream, packed up all our belongings and headed off, passing the ice cream back & forth, to San Francisco (via Las Vegas, Tahoe etc) We slept in our car most nights pulling into manicured driveways sometimes and other times we would get a motel 6. Somewhere and sometime during this trip our car started steaming, looking like it was going to blow up so we pulled over on the side of the road on this very baron part of hwy. 66 and got out....We had no clue about cars or what it could be and of course, no cell phones in those days...we had to wait for someone to come along and help us.
Finally, an old car, a similar age as ours, pulled over. A short frumpy little couple, probably in their 60ies, got out..."Yah need some help, girls?" Yikes...they could be murderers...what were we going to do. Oh my God. "Wahl...ah think it's the water hose," the man said. "Why don't one of ya gals stay with the car and one come with us?"I can't tell you how we decided, but I went with them...we went to Prescott and everything was closed......it must've been a Sunday, but some how we got a hose, Fay was still alive (and so was I, thank God again) the hose was fixed and we drove back to Prescott where we had to spend the night to fix the radiator.If I had to give them names, it would be Eddie Boy and Flossie.
When we reached San Francisco, we had $5 between us. We drove directly to a used car lot and sold old Bessie for $80.00..that was our first months rent...we rented a small studio apt. in the same neighborhood as the used car lot, close to the beach. Let's just say, it was not UPSCALE. We went out job hunting ( by bus) and both were hired at the Bank of America. I was in the business district on Montgomery St. at the Int'l Banking Office and was put on this archaic bookkeeping machine. (like I had any idea of how to use this thing!) They very soon placed me at the teller window and I did the receiving of the large funds from Int'l businesses which were brought in by couriers.
My boss, whom I sat next to, made passes as often as he could get away with it. He was disgusting but there was no way I could do anything about it. I desperately needed this job.
In the meantime, I thought I would so much rather be a secretary, so I signed up with the bank's shorthand class that they gave in the evenings. ( I wasn't too good at this either!)I stuck with it for awhile and ended up knowing a girl from Hawaii in the class. She said her brother and DICKIE LEE, a friend from Hawaii were also living in the city...Let's all get together!
Fay and I stayed in our apartment and ate most of our dinners at the bar across the street. The bartender, had his eye on me, (of course he was another bad boy) and would give us free sandwiches with our beers. His name was SPIDER. His real name was Robert Chacon. He was fair colored Mexican and was Codeine Addict. He would ask me to pick up cough medicine for him down at the neighborhood pharmacy and I would as a favor....I didn't think much about it. Later when Fay and I moved to Potrero Hill, he began stalking me and wanting me to be his girlfriend. When I finally told him to get lost, he slit his stomach in front of Fay and we never saw him again. That is, not for many years and not in San Francisco.
Finally, an old car, a similar age as ours, pulled over. A short frumpy little couple, probably in their 60ies, got out..."Yah need some help, girls?" Yikes...they could be murderers...what were we going to do. Oh my God. "Wahl...ah think it's the water hose," the man said. "Why don't one of ya gals stay with the car and one come with us?"I can't tell you how we decided, but I went with them...we went to Prescott and everything was closed......it must've been a Sunday, but some how we got a hose, Fay was still alive (and so was I, thank God again) the hose was fixed and we drove back to Prescott where we had to spend the night to fix the radiator.If I had to give them names, it would be Eddie Boy and Flossie.
When we reached San Francisco, we had $5 between us. We drove directly to a used car lot and sold old Bessie for $80.00..that was our first months rent...we rented a small studio apt. in the same neighborhood as the used car lot, close to the beach. Let's just say, it was not UPSCALE. We went out job hunting ( by bus) and both were hired at the Bank of America. I was in the business district on Montgomery St. at the Int'l Banking Office and was put on this archaic bookkeeping machine. (like I had any idea of how to use this thing!) They very soon placed me at the teller window and I did the receiving of the large funds from Int'l businesses which were brought in by couriers.
My boss, whom I sat next to, made passes as often as he could get away with it. He was disgusting but there was no way I could do anything about it. I desperately needed this job.
In the meantime, I thought I would so much rather be a secretary, so I signed up with the bank's shorthand class that they gave in the evenings. ( I wasn't too good at this either!)I stuck with it for awhile and ended up knowing a girl from Hawaii in the class. She said her brother and DICKIE LEE, a friend from Hawaii were also living in the city...Let's all get together!
Fay and I stayed in our apartment and ate most of our dinners at the bar across the street. The bartender, had his eye on me, (of course he was another bad boy) and would give us free sandwiches with our beers. His name was SPIDER. His real name was Robert Chacon. He was fair colored Mexican and was Codeine Addict. He would ask me to pick up cough medicine for him down at the neighborhood pharmacy and I would as a favor....I didn't think much about it. Later when Fay and I moved to Potrero Hill, he began stalking me and wanting me to be his girlfriend. When I finally told him to get lost, he slit his stomach in front of Fay and we never saw him again. That is, not for many years and not in San Francisco.
Monday, June 7, 2010
BOYS TO MEN
JOHNNY B. I took to my senior prom that last year in high school, 1958. The Four Freshman played their soothing dance tunes .
Johnny had been "kicked out" of the Punahou dorm, the year before, for smoking and he was from Maui so his parents made him leave and finish school in a public school there. He had graduated 1957 and came back over to Oahu for the prom. After the dancing, we scurried out and drove in his corvette to Waikiki where all the real action was happening on PAU ST. There was a party and beer and loud music...smoking...puff puff away (Marlboros)
After that, Johnny joined the Marine Corp Reserves and left for San Diego. I think he was just too much for his "missionary" parents. They probably bribed him.
I go off to Arizona to college and he decides that he will join me in Arizona when he finishes his duty..Fortunately or unfortunately, I dont' know, he signs up with the wrong school. He ends up in Tempe, hours aways....(and he didn't know I was having the time of my life without him)
He would drive up to Flagstaff with a buddy and we would double date...go to the Museum Club and other bars...drink and actually get sick a few times. He was a wild one too. One time on Oahu, we were on a date seeing a movie at the drive-inn theater and he just pulled out, with speakers and all.....just for fun. We used to drag race in his corvette down at Sandy Beach at night...it was crazy.
The first semester of my second year at Arizona State, my father found out he had lung cancer. I went home to help my mother and my grandmother take care of him. He was gone in six months. The last month, we each took 8 hour shifts taking care of him every day and night at Queens Hospital. I will never ever regret those times I spent with him. I was working in between shifts back at the International Marketplace job and making money to hopefully continue college.
I was able to.
I flew back via California where my cousins lived and then took a flight to Phoenix where Bruce ended up meeting me to drive back to Flagstaff. He claimed he had an important meeting there and it wouldn't be any trouble or hanky panky...
When I stepped of that plane in Phoenix, I was in excruciating pain on my tail bone..I couldn't sit..and Bruce took me to a doctor there who sliced a cyst and gave me a rubber pillow for the ride back to Flag. As this interupted his time there, we had to get a hotel room and leave the next morning...the worst part was that my cyst filled up again and Bruce had to drain it. I figured if any guy could do this and not get grossed out, he was a pretty good one. We drove the next day direct to the Flagstaff hospital where I had some minor surgery. Now, Bruce was in my good favor but I still wasn't really very interested in him as a boyfriend. Now this was getting a bit complicated. Bob F. was gone. Johnny was hours away. Bruce was begging.
It didn't last long though. I had to quit as money had run out. This was now a MOVE that would change my whole future.
Little would I have ever guessed this stupid decision would be the CREATION of the rest of my life.
Johnny had been "kicked out" of the Punahou dorm, the year before, for smoking and he was from Maui so his parents made him leave and finish school in a public school there. He had graduated 1957 and came back over to Oahu for the prom. After the dancing, we scurried out and drove in his corvette to Waikiki where all the real action was happening on PAU ST. There was a party and beer and loud music...smoking...puff puff away (Marlboros)
After that, Johnny joined the Marine Corp Reserves and left for San Diego. I think he was just too much for his "missionary" parents. They probably bribed him.
I go off to Arizona to college and he decides that he will join me in Arizona when he finishes his duty..Fortunately or unfortunately, I dont' know, he signs up with the wrong school. He ends up in Tempe, hours aways....(and he didn't know I was having the time of my life without him)
He would drive up to Flagstaff with a buddy and we would double date...go to the Museum Club and other bars...drink and actually get sick a few times. He was a wild one too. One time on Oahu, we were on a date seeing a movie at the drive-inn theater and he just pulled out, with speakers and all.....just for fun. We used to drag race in his corvette down at Sandy Beach at night...it was crazy.
The first semester of my second year at Arizona State, my father found out he had lung cancer. I went home to help my mother and my grandmother take care of him. He was gone in six months. The last month, we each took 8 hour shifts taking care of him every day and night at Queens Hospital. I will never ever regret those times I spent with him. I was working in between shifts back at the International Marketplace job and making money to hopefully continue college.
I was able to.
I flew back via California where my cousins lived and then took a flight to Phoenix where Bruce ended up meeting me to drive back to Flagstaff. He claimed he had an important meeting there and it wouldn't be any trouble or hanky panky...
When I stepped of that plane in Phoenix, I was in excruciating pain on my tail bone..I couldn't sit..and Bruce took me to a doctor there who sliced a cyst and gave me a rubber pillow for the ride back to Flag. As this interupted his time there, we had to get a hotel room and leave the next morning...the worst part was that my cyst filled up again and Bruce had to drain it. I figured if any guy could do this and not get grossed out, he was a pretty good one. We drove the next day direct to the Flagstaff hospital where I had some minor surgery. Now, Bruce was in my good favor but I still wasn't really very interested in him as a boyfriend. Now this was getting a bit complicated. Bob F. was gone. Johnny was hours away. Bruce was begging.
It didn't last long though. I had to quit as money had run out. This was now a MOVE that would change my whole future.
Little would I have ever guessed this stupid decision would be the CREATION of the rest of my life.
RUM TUM DITTY AND BOYS
1958 Graduation from Punahou School. There were 365 students in our class. We sang acappela, two Hawaiian Songs, "Wailana" and another I can't remember .. One of my closest friends and I had chosen to go to college in Flagstaff Arizona where it snowed and wasn't so far from home...neither Anne nor I were too interested in our studies..we would have hamburgers, fries and Coke for breadfast instead of free cafeteria food We played canasta with Faye, Jody R, Carolee and others in our all girls dorm for hours, pretty much daily and Anne would get after me for my sloppiness but it was so much fun. We had Hawaiian posters above each single bed and Bates bedspreads.We were feeling so grown up.
We started dating these two guys that had a house off campus (big shots)...Bruce and Paul. They cooked on our first double date something they called RUM TUM DITTY which was canned tomato soup over cookies. I think we actually ate it. Anne continued seeing Paul but I met someone else that got my attention ( probably because he was not a student and he was pretty wild) His name was Bob . He was in Flagstaff working on a movie, doing stunt work.. He ended up staying in Flagstaff as a ski instructor.
Bruce was jealous and decided he would find out about Bob's background behind my back. Bruce started stalking us...and told me Bob had robbed a bank somewhere. It was all so mysterious & crazy but after a while Bob left town but this wasn't the last time I would see him.
On the first Spring Break, my boyfriend from home when I was 16 and 17, called and asked me to join him in Big Sur California where we would begin a surf quest south, hitting all the beaches and beach towns in his new VolksWagon Van (the first I had ever seen)...Boards on racks, we played all the way down to Laguna where his mother lived . Joe eventually became the first International Surfing Champion of the World..Unfortunatly, I was gone again and didn't get any of the glory of being his "girl".
We started dating these two guys that had a house off campus (big shots)...Bruce and Paul. They cooked on our first double date something they called RUM TUM DITTY which was canned tomato soup over cookies. I think we actually ate it. Anne continued seeing Paul but I met someone else that got my attention ( probably because he was not a student and he was pretty wild) His name was Bob . He was in Flagstaff working on a movie, doing stunt work.. He ended up staying in Flagstaff as a ski instructor.
Bruce was jealous and decided he would find out about Bob's background behind my back. Bruce started stalking us...and told me Bob had robbed a bank somewhere. It was all so mysterious & crazy but after a while Bob left town but this wasn't the last time I would see him.
On the first Spring Break, my boyfriend from home when I was 16 and 17, called and asked me to join him in Big Sur California where we would begin a surf quest south, hitting all the beaches and beach towns in his new VolksWagon Van (the first I had ever seen)...Boards on racks, we played all the way down to Laguna where his mother lived . Joe eventually became the first International Surfing Champion of the World..Unfortunatly, I was gone again and didn't get any of the glory of being his "girl".
YING AND YANG
Downtown Honolulu housed most of the offices. My orthodontist, Dr. Glenn, was in the Alexander Young Hotel Bldg. I don't remember it ever being a "hotel" but I do remember it had the best bakery in town and the first Longs Drug Store was across the street. Everyone took the HRT, the bus from school or home to their appointments.
And...on weekends we would meet our dates for a movies at the Princess Theatre. PT had "loges" ( a dark balcony where we would kissy face all through the movie...oh, and smoke! ) Yes, we smoked in theatres then.
One time in High School a bunch of us (with our drivers licenses) met downtown and went to the Swing Club where all the sailors and loose women would dance and play around..They had fabulous live JAZZ and we all loved to dance, didn't drink and we were totally oblivious to the danger that lurked at night in downtown Honolulu.
There was another time we went to a club down there in the depths of it all, that advertised male/female impersonators on stage......they were hysterical. And I am sure they thought we were too.
During the day, the area, also called China Town, reeked of fish, fermented duck eggs, creepy Chinese herbs in little dark hovels....jars of snake heads, goat innards, grasshoppers and other un- edibles. Shops sold Mahjongg sets and Chinese silk.
The HUGE Market on King St , colorful with rows of skinny defeathered chickens, pigs feet and heads and of course, all the fish came in from the docks fresh for auction if you got there early enough...Actually this place still exists in 2010.
During the war, the streets were filled with ladys of the night and drunk military men having fun .... and now it is mostly the Homeless, Art Galleries and Popular ethnic Restaurants. It's guess it has always been the Ying and Yang.
And...on weekends we would meet our dates for a movies at the Princess Theatre. PT had "loges" ( a dark balcony where we would kissy face all through the movie...oh, and smoke! ) Yes, we smoked in theatres then.
One time in High School a bunch of us (with our drivers licenses) met downtown and went to the Swing Club where all the sailors and loose women would dance and play around..They had fabulous live JAZZ and we all loved to dance, didn't drink and we were totally oblivious to the danger that lurked at night in downtown Honolulu.
There was another time we went to a club down there in the depths of it all, that advertised male/female impersonators on stage......they were hysterical. And I am sure they thought we were too.
During the day, the area, also called China Town, reeked of fish, fermented duck eggs, creepy Chinese herbs in little dark hovels....jars of snake heads, goat innards, grasshoppers and other un- edibles. Shops sold Mahjongg sets and Chinese silk.
The HUGE Market on King St , colorful with rows of skinny defeathered chickens, pigs feet and heads and of course, all the fish came in from the docks fresh for auction if you got there early enough...Actually this place still exists in 2010.
During the war, the streets were filled with ladys of the night and drunk military men having fun .... and now it is mostly the Homeless, Art Galleries and Popular ethnic Restaurants. It's guess it has always been the Ying and Yang.
Friday, May 28, 2010
DRIVE INs and MUSIC
At 15 we would go with friends to Kau Kau Korner, one of the many drive-Ins that had "carhops"...That was the place to meet others', hang with the boys and pretend to be grown up.
No one drank anything stronger than Coke. Most of us did smoke cigarettes. Who knew they would eventually be killing some of us.
Another HOTSPOT was Ilima Drive In. The draw was not the party atmosphere but the LIVE disc jockey and loud pop music..and we could go up to the window and dedicate songs over the loud speaker.
Coffee Houses were springing up too. Poetry readings, coffee and cigarettes.
At 16, I had to get a summer job. The first one was at Fort Street Liberty House Lingerie dept. which I absolutely hated and soon found another job selling Hawaiian clothing in Waikiki...which was so much more fun.
Waikiki was so fresh in the mornings when we opened up...the International Market Place was newly opened...we would wash down the sidewalks, hang the shirts and muumuus out for display...birds chirped along with steel guitar and the jungle music of Martin Denny flowing through the huge banyan tree and upstairs restaurants......all day, tourists and locals strolled through this shady marketplace of thatched roofs and fun shopping.
As the sun went down Don the Beachcomber's would open it's doors, stir up those Mai Tais and Don Ho would sing his first, "Tiny Bubbles"..
No one drank anything stronger than Coke. Most of us did smoke cigarettes. Who knew they would eventually be killing some of us.
Another HOTSPOT was Ilima Drive In. The draw was not the party atmosphere but the LIVE disc jockey and loud pop music..and we could go up to the window and dedicate songs over the loud speaker.
Coffee Houses were springing up too. Poetry readings, coffee and cigarettes.
At 16, I had to get a summer job. The first one was at Fort Street Liberty House Lingerie dept. which I absolutely hated and soon found another job selling Hawaiian clothing in Waikiki...which was so much more fun.
Waikiki was so fresh in the mornings when we opened up...the International Market Place was newly opened...we would wash down the sidewalks, hang the shirts and muumuus out for display...birds chirped along with steel guitar and the jungle music of Martin Denny flowing through the huge banyan tree and upstairs restaurants......all day, tourists and locals strolled through this shady marketplace of thatched roofs and fun shopping.
As the sun went down Don the Beachcomber's would open it's doors, stir up those Mai Tais and Don Ho would sing his first, "Tiny Bubbles"..
WAIKIKI 1953
When I was 12, we moved to a house on the slopes of Diamond Head. 3040 Hibiscus Drive.
It turned out to be such a fun neighborhood....There were so many kids...we played dodge ball on the street, hung out at night playing ukuleles and eventually spin the bottle.
Sometimes we would hitch a ride in the vegetable truck that went from neighborhood to neighborhood selling fresh farm veggies...the old Japanese man thought we were crazy. We would laugh thinking..what if he crashed and people would wonder what kind of vegetables we were.
Satuday was movie day at Waikiki Theatre...we would take the bus, buy our jujubees, popcorn and coke and see the new movie of the week...That theatre was amazing...it was adorned with fake coconut and banana trees on all sides... STARS & moving clouds on the ceiling, along with the tradtional maroon velvet curtains
Summers and Sundays we fled to the Outrigger Canoe Club, which at the time was between the Moana and Royal Hawaiian Hotels. We sunned, greased doen with baby oil and Iodine, checked out the boys and ate club's special, hamburgers and fries.
Waikiki was full of characters....."Dorkus" on the beach...a really overly tan man who was crippled with Polio, who always sat with his legs apart...in others words, a perve. There was the lady, whom we nicknamed "Bubbles", who walked Kalakaua in her leopard bathing suit with huge boobs and skinny legs. We must have watched her into her 70ies. She seemed pretty happy.
Of course there was Rabbit Kekai, Buffalo and all the beach boys. They would let us hitch rides on the catamarans when we begged long enough. I saw the Shah of Iran, Red Selton, Tony Curtis and other famous celebrities...they were safe in those days.
We wore Linn's 2-pc bathing suits (usually red or white or blue with stripes on the sides)...
Duke Kahanamoku drove a shiney white Jaguar with a gold surfer adorning the hood. He was often in Waikiki...a lot of times I would see him when I was walking my dog there...He was gorgeous.
It turned out to be such a fun neighborhood....There were so many kids...we played dodge ball on the street, hung out at night playing ukuleles and eventually spin the bottle.
Sometimes we would hitch a ride in the vegetable truck that went from neighborhood to neighborhood selling fresh farm veggies...the old Japanese man thought we were crazy. We would laugh thinking..what if he crashed and people would wonder what kind of vegetables we were.
Satuday was movie day at Waikiki Theatre...we would take the bus, buy our jujubees, popcorn and coke and see the new movie of the week...That theatre was amazing...it was adorned with fake coconut and banana trees on all sides... STARS & moving clouds on the ceiling, along with the tradtional maroon velvet curtains
Summers and Sundays we fled to the Outrigger Canoe Club, which at the time was between the Moana and Royal Hawaiian Hotels. We sunned, greased doen with baby oil and Iodine, checked out the boys and ate club's special, hamburgers and fries.
Waikiki was full of characters....."Dorkus" on the beach...a really overly tan man who was crippled with Polio, who always sat with his legs apart...in others words, a perve. There was the lady, whom we nicknamed "Bubbles", who walked Kalakaua in her leopard bathing suit with huge boobs and skinny legs. We must have watched her into her 70ies. She seemed pretty happy.
Of course there was Rabbit Kekai, Buffalo and all the beach boys. They would let us hitch rides on the catamarans when we begged long enough. I saw the Shah of Iran, Red Selton, Tony Curtis and other famous celebrities...they were safe in those days.
We wore Linn's 2-pc bathing suits (usually red or white or blue with stripes on the sides)...
Duke Kahanamoku drove a shiney white Jaguar with a gold surfer adorning the hood. He was often in Waikiki...a lot of times I would see him when I was walking my dog there...He was gorgeous.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
PUNAHOU SCHOOL
When I was 13, my parents' decided on Punahou school for me. After all, we knew Dr. Fox and elementary school was over..7th grade at Punahou, a school to become renown in 2009 when one of its students became President of the United States.
Punahou was wonderful. The campus was so beautiful with ancient trees, stone buildings from the 1800's, a lilly pond along with a huge track field framed with night blooming cereus covering lava rock walls that enclosed the entire campus. When those cereous were blooming, there was nothing more beautiful.
The classes were difficult...a lot of homework but nothing like what I had to do in the Philippines. My parents gave up a lot of pleasures for my education, but I think we all decided it was so well worth all of the struggles. They loved my boyfriend and his friends. They hung every piece of artwork I did on the living room wall. They were so very supportive. They were always available.
I wouldn't say I was in "the" popular group, but I was "friends" with all of them. Most of my classmates were from very wealthy families but I never really felt any inequality...That was what was so nice about Punahou. It was a conglomerate of students from all walks of life. Some were on scholarship, some were children of staff members that were there for free and some were from hugely wealthy families.
I always seemed to have a BEST FRIEND..not a group of friends. I was always friendly with those less accepted than myself.
My very first crush was a Filapino-Hawaiian football player, 2 years older than me. He was one of the star football players. We had such innocent fun. Football parties, proms, flower leis, holding hands. No one knew about drugs or felt the need for alcohol then...it just wasn't around. The only fear, in these days was the big "PG" Pregnancy..so if you were going to "do it" you'd better not get pregnant or even tell anyone. Abortion was not legal. Single motherhood was a socially unacceptable situation. Only going to a home and giving up baby, was the choice...so "intercourse" was a very big decison and boys had to have "rubbers"...are you kidding..birth control pills had not been invented!!! So...kisses were not French..they were "English"...what evah. My boyfriend and I were too afraid to "go all the way", as we called it.
Punahou was wonderful. The campus was so beautiful with ancient trees, stone buildings from the 1800's, a lilly pond along with a huge track field framed with night blooming cereus covering lava rock walls that enclosed the entire campus. When those cereous were blooming, there was nothing more beautiful.
The classes were difficult...a lot of homework but nothing like what I had to do in the Philippines. My parents gave up a lot of pleasures for my education, but I think we all decided it was so well worth all of the struggles. They loved my boyfriend and his friends. They hung every piece of artwork I did on the living room wall. They were so very supportive. They were always available.
I wouldn't say I was in "the" popular group, but I was "friends" with all of them. Most of my classmates were from very wealthy families but I never really felt any inequality...That was what was so nice about Punahou. It was a conglomerate of students from all walks of life. Some were on scholarship, some were children of staff members that were there for free and some were from hugely wealthy families.
I always seemed to have a BEST FRIEND..not a group of friends. I was always friendly with those less accepted than myself.
My very first crush was a Filapino-Hawaiian football player, 2 years older than me. He was one of the star football players. We had such innocent fun. Football parties, proms, flower leis, holding hands. No one knew about drugs or felt the need for alcohol then...it just wasn't around. The only fear, in these days was the big "PG" Pregnancy..so if you were going to "do it" you'd better not get pregnant or even tell anyone. Abortion was not legal. Single motherhood was a socially unacceptable situation. Only going to a home and giving up baby, was the choice...so "intercourse" was a very big decison and boys had to have "rubbers"...are you kidding..birth control pills had not been invented!!! So...kisses were not French..they were "English"...what evah. My boyfriend and I were too afraid to "go all the way", as we called it.
SAN FRANCISCO
We actually made it to San Francisco in 31 days. There had been storms and rough water but we all survived without much whining or fear.
The other passengers were a "white Russian" family with 3 little boys, and a single young woman and then just the two of us. We all ate with the crew and the boys and I played on the stair landings, all kinds of games...board games, pick up sticks and others.
I don't remember being bored or afraid. There was no pool or shuffleboard; no fancy dining area. Everything was very sturdy and compact. We must have slept a lot.
We landed in San Francisco, Daddy meeting us at the pier and we visited family in Santa Monica before we headed on to the Hawaiian Islands. Our family must have thought my parents were irresponsible yanking me around to all these scary places out in the middle of no where. We actually stayed with my mothers' parents long enough for me to join a girl scout troop but then it was off to the new school year,new school and new ISLAND.. I had left mid year of 4th grade and when I registered at the University Elementary School they put me in the 6th grade. (I was far advanced from my International School education)
Somehow I don't remember having much of an adjusment. I just did what my parents wished.
The other passengers were a "white Russian" family with 3 little boys, and a single young woman and then just the two of us. We all ate with the crew and the boys and I played on the stair landings, all kinds of games...board games, pick up sticks and others.
I don't remember being bored or afraid. There was no pool or shuffleboard; no fancy dining area. Everything was very sturdy and compact. We must have slept a lot.
We landed in San Francisco, Daddy meeting us at the pier and we visited family in Santa Monica before we headed on to the Hawaiian Islands. Our family must have thought my parents were irresponsible yanking me around to all these scary places out in the middle of no where. We actually stayed with my mothers' parents long enough for me to join a girl scout troop but then it was off to the new school year,new school and new ISLAND.. I had left mid year of 4th grade and when I registered at the University Elementary School they put me in the 6th grade. (I was far advanced from my International School education)
Somehow I don't remember having much of an adjusment. I just did what my parents wished.
SHANGHAI CHINA
When the President Madison pulled up to refuel in Shanghai China, all the little "junks" surrounded her... with their families, shouting and yelling and selling whatever they could...the main deal was selling their trinkets for cigarettes from the crew.
The first mate, one of our new friends, traded 3 packs of cigarettes for a set of hand carved camphor wood chests which I actually still have.
The scariest part was leaving the ship, hopping in to a taxi ( of which all its glass windows were boarded up and speeding away from all the ragged beggars)..The Chinese there were so very poor, just destitute..it was a terrible scene. They would try to break the windows of the taxis to grab anything they could.....
The first mate, one of our new friends, traded 3 packs of cigarettes for a set of hand carved camphor wood chests which I actually still have.
The scariest part was leaving the ship, hopping in to a taxi ( of which all its glass windows were boarded up and speeding away from all the ragged beggars)..The Chinese there were so very poor, just destitute..it was a terrible scene. They would try to break the windows of the taxis to grab anything they could.....
Saturday, May 22, 2010
NEW BEACH LIFE
I guess we moved to Waimanalo because Daddy's office was on the University of Hawaii's campus where he met many of the professors and staff. Through them, he met Dr. Fox, the President of Punahou School who happened to be renting out his beach house in Waimanalo. It was a tiny cottage perched right on the sand. You'd step out of the door and it was just pure white sand...........and we had the this gorgeous untouched white sand beach all to ourselves with views of Rabbit Island that was always frosted in white (from bird poop) It was a bird sanctuary but shaped like a "rabbit"...oh well.
Here we were. My parents were meeting a lot of people that lived in this interesting neighborhood. They partied. They danced. They drank. They laughed and we kids liked to spy on them through the bushes for a lot of giggles.
My mother gave dancing lessons to some of the kids, like the box step. We all made friends there and those same kids, taught me about Li Hing Moi and other local treats.
The beach was isolated as this, in '49, was considered far out in the country. There was no public transportation and a very winding road from the end of the main hwy which ended at Lunalilo Home Rd. After school we had to take a stretch limo taxi with other people that would meet us there and take us home the rest of the way.
Here we were. My parents were meeting a lot of people that lived in this interesting neighborhood. They partied. They danced. They drank. They laughed and we kids liked to spy on them through the bushes for a lot of giggles.
My mother gave dancing lessons to some of the kids, like the box step. We all made friends there and those same kids, taught me about Li Hing Moi and other local treats.
The beach was isolated as this, in '49, was considered far out in the country. There was no public transportation and a very winding road from the end of the main hwy which ended at Lunalilo Home Rd. After school we had to take a stretch limo taxi with other people that would meet us there and take us home the rest of the way.
SAYING OUR GOODBYES
........Honolulu still beckoned us. Daddy was given the transfer and we were to pack up our worldly goods and prepare for the next adventure..........Paradise of the Pacific.......Hula Girls, Surfing, China Town, sailors, white sand beaches and fresh food. Very exciting. Honolulu, the Island of Oahu, where the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor just 7 years earlier.
Daddy stayed to pack up and settled all the move of his job and our furnishings out of the pale brown quonset hut...
Saying good byes were not easy ... our personal staff...NingNing, Marta and Joe. They were like family. We had to leave Rosebud too...my spider monkey from Samar Island. Our friends weren't happy either. I said goodbye to Penny Clague, my best friend, Mitos and Maggie dela Riva, my friends from school. For my mother, it was "hello" to no more help in the kitchen, laundry or driving. I am sure she could foresee a lot of adjusting. There would be fears of being alone in a whole new world. Daddy would be at work, me in school and she without any servants.
The night arrived for Mama and I to leave the island of LUZON . We boarded the American Freighter, the President Madison, that would take us on a 31 day journey from Manila to San Francisco before we would then head off to Hawaii.
Daddy kissed us and waved goodbye. The ship blew its horn and slowly pulled out of its berth leaving all we knew behind and beginning another adventure of the unknown, just the two of us, my Mama and me.
Daddy stayed to pack up and settled all the move of his job and our furnishings out of the pale brown quonset hut...
Saying good byes were not easy ... our personal staff...NingNing, Marta and Joe. They were like family. We had to leave Rosebud too...my spider monkey from Samar Island. Our friends weren't happy either. I said goodbye to Penny Clague, my best friend, Mitos and Maggie dela Riva, my friends from school. For my mother, it was "hello" to no more help in the kitchen, laundry or driving. I am sure she could foresee a lot of adjusting. There would be fears of being alone in a whole new world. Daddy would be at work, me in school and she without any servants.
The night arrived for Mama and I to leave the island of LUZON . We boarded the American Freighter, the President Madison, that would take us on a 31 day journey from Manila to San Francisco before we would then head off to Hawaii.
Daddy kissed us and waved goodbye. The ship blew its horn and slowly pulled out of its berth leaving all we knew behind and beginning another adventure of the unknown, just the two of us, my Mama and me.
MY DADDY, my sweet Daddy
Daddy was always the center of attention...His co-workers loved him. His friends wanted to be in his company. He had a wonderful sense of humor. He loved the comic strip, POGO . He cut it out and sent it to me weekly when I was in college.
He adored fishing and that's actually why he decided to get a degree in "Fisheries"..
Fishing was his first passion. He was hired by the Federal Fish and Wildlife Service and off we went to the Philippine Islands...1946.
However, he soon found out that his job of Research would not be on a Research Vessel but in an office as he got so terribly seasick.
Daddy had been an athlete in college...playing football and baseball but still preferred to fish over everything else.
I never thought he was handsome...but now that I look back at his photos, he had great sex appeal like Humphery Bogart. My mother could have been a Lauen Bacall. They were a handsome couple.
Daddy smoked CAMELS. My mom, his mom and I took 8 hour shifts around the clock at Queens Hospital until he died of LUNG CANCER in 1959. I was 19. How I loved him.
He adored fishing and that's actually why he decided to get a degree in "Fisheries"..
Fishing was his first passion. He was hired by the Federal Fish and Wildlife Service and off we went to the Philippine Islands...1946.
However, he soon found out that his job of Research would not be on a Research Vessel but in an office as he got so terribly seasick.
Daddy had been an athlete in college...playing football and baseball but still preferred to fish over everything else.
I never thought he was handsome...but now that I look back at his photos, he had great sex appeal like Humphery Bogart. My mother could have been a Lauen Bacall. They were a handsome couple.
Daddy smoked CAMELS. My mom, his mom and I took 8 hour shifts around the clock at Queens Hospital until he died of LUNG CANCER in 1959. I was 19. How I loved him.
MY MOTHER
My mother always said that childbirth was so horrible and painful that she would never consider having more than one child. I think from that day of August 21, 1940, when I was born, she changed. Not only did this traumatize her forever, but she also had to SHARE her husband, her best friend.
I ended up being Daddy's girl, his princess. He adored me. I was never spanked. My Daddy and I went to movies, basketball games, played tennis barefooted.. Mama never wanted to go. He even shopped for my school clothes.
...but she did everything a "good "mother would do for her daughter but it was difficult for her. It didn't seem natural. She lacked confidence even though she was a beautiful woman and educated through junior college. She had no close friends that I remember. She buried herself into gardening. I never saw her read a book, take up any hobby or really laugh out loud. Looking back, I think she lived with depression most of her life. When I was 14, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She was 44.
I ended up being Daddy's girl, his princess. He adored me. I was never spanked. My Daddy and I went to movies, basketball games, played tennis barefooted.. Mama never wanted to go. He even shopped for my school clothes.
...but she did everything a "good "mother would do for her daughter but it was difficult for her. It didn't seem natural. She lacked confidence even though she was a beautiful woman and educated through junior college. She had no close friends that I remember. She buried herself into gardening. I never saw her read a book, take up any hobby or really laugh out loud. Looking back, I think she lived with depression most of her life. When I was 14, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She was 44.
Until Death Do We Part
Frances Marion Lewis was her name...born on February 4, 1912.
Harry Blaine Hinkle..born April 28, 1906.
They met because both their fathers worked at the University of Washington as maintanence personnel. They eloped in secrecy so that my Daddy could continue his studies at the university and graduate. Married persons were not allowed to enter the university.
My Mother was born in a log cabin in the Okanagan mountains Wa...poor farmers and cold winters.
Daddy was from Kentucky born when his mother was 16 years old.
Both their parents stayed together until death.
Grandpa Alonzo Hinkle and Anlie Rodgers
Grandpa Charlie Lewis and Marion Renee McIntyre.
AND THE SAME WENT FOR FRANCES AND HARRY.
Harry Blaine Hinkle..born April 28, 1906.
They met because both their fathers worked at the University of Washington as maintanence personnel. They eloped in secrecy so that my Daddy could continue his studies at the university and graduate. Married persons were not allowed to enter the university.
My Mother was born in a log cabin in the Okanagan mountains Wa...poor farmers and cold winters.
Daddy was from Kentucky born when his mother was 16 years old.
Both their parents stayed together until death.
Grandpa Alonzo Hinkle and Anlie Rodgers
Grandpa Charlie Lewis and Marion Renee McIntyre.
AND THE SAME WENT FOR FRANCES AND HARRY.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Hawaii Calls
.......every year, the government flew us to the U.S. to visit family and this was via the Hawaiian Islands. We would stay at either the Royal Hawaiian Hotel or the Moana. Every time we stepped off that Pan American plane, the scent of plumaria was overwhelming. The skies were filled with blankets of sparkling stars, Diamond Head Crater reigned...the ocean was turquoise, Waikiki Beach sand, powder white.
We lounged on the beach with movie stars and other famous faces.....my parents were in their 30ies.....and so in love...This became their annual Honeymoon Trip....watching Hawaii calls with Webley Edwards, the master of ceremonies, in swim suits under the banyan tree at the Moana Hotel and taking canoe rides with the Waikiki beach boys. The tradewinds kept the heat down to perfection and their nightly dreams were of moving permanently to Hawaii....
Daddy would soon put in his official plea for a transfer to the Honolulu Fish & Wildlife Service Office on the University of Hawaii Campus.
In 1949 , we stepped off that plane into the plumaria scented air, for the last time.
We lounged on the beach with movie stars and other famous faces.....my parents were in their 30ies.....and so in love...This became their annual Honeymoon Trip....watching Hawaii calls with Webley Edwards, the master of ceremonies, in swim suits under the banyan tree at the Moana Hotel and taking canoe rides with the Waikiki beach boys. The tradewinds kept the heat down to perfection and their nightly dreams were of moving permanently to Hawaii....
Daddy would soon put in his official plea for a transfer to the Honolulu Fish & Wildlife Service Office on the University of Hawaii Campus.
In 1949 , we stepped off that plane into the plumaria scented air, for the last time.
TYPHOONS AND TANGO
Typhoon Jean hit the island of Luzon with a roar of torrential rain and winds not to be believed...our tin roof blew off and thanks to the bathroom, we survived along with my doll, Sparkle Plenty. This was , again, just one more challenge of living as an expat in a foreign country so far away from home. ...and just as frightening as this was, there were the bonuses.
We shot the rapids down jungle rivers. We had three servants. The school was fantastic...it was the International School.
My parents were invited to the Presidents' home for cocktail & dance parties. The fire chief and his wife were there and all the women wore "gowns" I remember looking at all the beautiful gowns..especially when they were on my mother...she was so elegant with her hair in an "up sweep" with her slim body and Grace Kelly classic features. I remember the soft red plaid taffeta gown ..halter neckline and pleated bodice. As beautiful as she was, she was always a bit shy. On the other hand, Daddy was the suave, kind and humorous guy... a sought out dancer. He was a social animal. The women loved him, including me. On the other hand, my mother, as beautiful as she was, always chose to be in the background
She and my Daddy would dance...they all danced...the tango and the rumba and the samba..and when we eventually left the Philippines, my parents continued dancing to 40ies Big Bands and collected records..Frankie Laine, Frank Sinatra, Tommy Dorsay. I learned to dance to these also... to this day, 2010, I can break out and dance to anything...even alone...It is my passion.
We shot the rapids down jungle rivers. We had three servants. The school was fantastic...it was the International School.
My parents were invited to the Presidents' home for cocktail & dance parties. The fire chief and his wife were there and all the women wore "gowns" I remember looking at all the beautiful gowns..especially when they were on my mother...she was so elegant with her hair in an "up sweep" with her slim body and Grace Kelly classic features. I remember the soft red plaid taffeta gown ..halter neckline and pleated bodice. As beautiful as she was, she was always a bit shy. On the other hand, Daddy was the suave, kind and humorous guy... a sought out dancer. He was a social animal. The women loved him, including me. On the other hand, my mother, as beautiful as she was, always chose to be in the background
She and my Daddy would dance...they all danced...the tango and the rumba and the samba..and when we eventually left the Philippines, my parents continued dancing to 40ies Big Bands and collected records..Frankie Laine, Frank Sinatra, Tommy Dorsay. I learned to dance to these also... to this day, 2010, I can break out and dance to anything...even alone...It is my passion.
BOARD WALKS AND DDT
LUZON, OAHU, MAUI, BALI
PAN AMERICAN 3 day flight from San Francisco to the Philippines Islands..DDT spray, strange places boardwalks, mosquitoes, time bombs, rats, a parrot named Sammi, a monkey called RoseBud..I was 6 years old. We lived in a quonset hut in a govt compound, just after the war... guards, barbed wire,household help. Joe, our houseboy, NingNing and Marta, our maids.It was 1946. I went to the International School..we traveled back and forth to school in a"jeepney" which had a colored tin hooded back compartment with benches on each side and open air. It was typical with paint and catholic saint ornaments hanging from every side and the mirrors. We were checked at the compound gate for time bombs, just to make sure no enemy would have hidden one.
My mother and Daddy were having the time of their lives in this humid, tropical exotic new land, especially growing up in Seattle. My father received his degree in the Fisheries Program at the U of Washington. My parents had to elope and keep their marriage quiet in order for him to finish as in those days, you could not be married to go to college.
..this huge colorless compound was bare of foliage with exception of banana trees..It bordered the Philippine Sea, a bit murky, no beach there, just a concrete seawall that followed the main highway.
We played on board walks that wound through the compound, preventing us getting bitten by the explosion of rats that ran around under us.....
The double barbed wire fencing with armed guards were there to keep the "huks" out...(hukbalahuks) .. In the aftermath of the war.. these were the Japanese soldiers who had escaped & hid in the island jungles... in desperation they would come out to rob and look for food.
Our quonset hut ( military DRAB like all the rest) was one that bordered the fence. Many times we would hear gun shots.
The DDt truck would spray every afternoon to protect us from Malaria. We would run behind the truck following in the clouds of poison.
Charming? To a kid, it was just "life" and none of us gave any of it a second thought. Of course our parents were always there with a watchful eye. One time I was MIA and they had the military police looking for me everywhere. They found me, with our maid, Marta, in downtown Manila at a local movie theatre ( with signs bearing"check your firearms here") She was about a foot shorter than I at 8 years old... ( I must've stood out like you know what) but I was completely oblivious that we shouldn't be there. My parents were in shock and nearly crazy with fear. There were alot of tears that day of joy and relief.
PAN AMERICAN 3 day flight from San Francisco to the Philippines Islands..DDT spray, strange places boardwalks, mosquitoes, time bombs, rats, a parrot named Sammi, a monkey called RoseBud..I was 6 years old. We lived in a quonset hut in a govt compound, just after the war... guards, barbed wire,household help. Joe, our houseboy, NingNing and Marta, our maids.It was 1946. I went to the International School..we traveled back and forth to school in a"jeepney" which had a colored tin hooded back compartment with benches on each side and open air. It was typical with paint and catholic saint ornaments hanging from every side and the mirrors. We were checked at the compound gate for time bombs, just to make sure no enemy would have hidden one.
My mother and Daddy were having the time of their lives in this humid, tropical exotic new land, especially growing up in Seattle. My father received his degree in the Fisheries Program at the U of Washington. My parents had to elope and keep their marriage quiet in order for him to finish as in those days, you could not be married to go to college.
..this huge colorless compound was bare of foliage with exception of banana trees..It bordered the Philippine Sea, a bit murky, no beach there, just a concrete seawall that followed the main highway.
We played on board walks that wound through the compound, preventing us getting bitten by the explosion of rats that ran around under us.....
The double barbed wire fencing with armed guards were there to keep the "huks" out...(hukbalahuks) .. In the aftermath of the war.. these were the Japanese soldiers who had escaped & hid in the island jungles... in desperation they would come out to rob and look for food.
Our quonset hut ( military DRAB like all the rest) was one that bordered the fence. Many times we would hear gun shots.
The DDt truck would spray every afternoon to protect us from Malaria. We would run behind the truck following in the clouds of poison.
Charming? To a kid, it was just "life" and none of us gave any of it a second thought. Of course our parents were always there with a watchful eye. One time I was MIA and they had the military police looking for me everywhere. They found me, with our maid, Marta, in downtown Manila at a local movie theatre ( with signs bearing"check your firearms here") She was about a foot shorter than I at 8 years old... ( I must've stood out like you know what) but I was completely oblivious that we shouldn't be there. My parents were in shock and nearly crazy with fear. There were alot of tears that day of joy and relief.
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