#2 - My Name is Mary

Me: Nanny, what's your full name?
Nanny: Mary.
Me: Nanny, what name is on your birth certificate?
Nanny: Maria Tagle. But I like Mary.  I don't like Maria.  My name is Mary
With the help of a midwife, Mary came into this world on September 15, 1917. Her common-law parents Lorenzo Tagle and Margharita Villarba had three children - Elmer, Sally and Mary.  Mary was the middle child.

Life on the sugar plantation in the early 1900's was hard but Mary has fond memories of playing with her Puerto Rican neighbors in the Pakala plantation camp on Kauai, Hawaii. Because they could not afford toys, she and her sister would make rag dolls and play house.  Their version of playing house was called "Comadre Comadre" (Mother Friend, Mother Friend).  They would play for hours.  Lorenzo, fondly known as "Tatay" was a great carpenter so he built benches and stilts and tables for the children to play with. When they weren't playing with their rag dolls, the girls and the other neighborhood children would play "Roll the Tire" down their dusty dirt streets.

Food was always on the table. There was always enough - fried frog legs that Margherita, fondly called "Nanay", would catch in the mountain stream; fresh meat purchased by a vendor who visited the camp two to three times a week; chicken that they raised in the back yard....

The family did not own an automobile so they had to walk to school. The school was located about an hour away in the next major town - Koloa. Sally, Mary's older sister, often got a lashing from the principal because they were always late for school.  Mary and her brother, Elmer,  were forced to pull weeds in the school yard  as detention.

Mary attended school until the 10th grade because that was as high as the grades went in Koloa.  Attending high school meant a farther walk ... to Lihue and that was too far. Mary went to work at the local general store.

Worked hard - long hours - no lunch break
Met Alfred Kilantang who visited her often.
Would pick her up after work and give her a ride home
Mary always got punished because she always got home late.
The store closed at 9 p and she got home at 11 pm.

Courted for three years. Got pregnant.
Got married in the Catholic priest's office and then headed back to the camp for the reception.
Borrowed $800 for a wedding.

Big Filipino wedding in the camp.  Men from the neighboring camp brought wood and they built a make shift party hall - lots of Filipino food. Mary really felt special  and had a good time.
After wedding moved back and forth between his parents house and her parents.
Alfred left to go to Oahu to fina a better job. Was gone for 4 months. Eventually found a job on Ford Island.
Found a job with Castle and Cook. Strong leader. Was promoted to supervisor. Promoted to Labor Relations.
Moved to Whitmore and then to Waialua.
No worker homes so they offered the family a manager's home on the main street in Waialua near the plantation and the general store.
This is where they settled to raise a family of 7 children