"Ciao, Lola!"

1929 – 1949

Lola spent the first two decades of her life in the Philippines before emigrating to the United States a month shy of her 20th birthday.

She entered the world on Tuesday, September 10, 1929, at Philippine General Hospital in the Ermita district of Manila, the capital city of the Philippines. Her family home on Calle Alejandro VI (later changed to De los Santos Street) was in the Sampaloc district about three miles away from the hospital. Wikipedia refers to Sampaloc as the University Belt, or simply “U-Belt”, since it is home to numerous colleges and universities, including University of Santo Tomas, the oldest extant university in Asia.

Born Teresita Verzosa Santos, Lola was the fourth child of Mercedes Mislang Verzosa and Elias De Jesus Santos, who Lola called Mamang and Papang respectively. Her three older siblings were Zenaida (Zening), born in 1924, Honorato (Honor) born presumably sometime in 1925 or 1926, and Romulo (Romey) born in 1927.

On her birth certificate, her first name Teresita is misspelled, with an extra “s” at the end, most likely due to a clerical error. Her birth date, which Lola always said was September 10th, seems to be mistakenly written as the 11th. She didn’t know the precise time of her birth and the above certificate leaves it a mystery.

[what was happening in the rest of the world — born 6 weeks before the stock market crash in the US?]

[this day in hx: https://www.britannica.com/on-this-day/September-10%5D

[picture in front of Auntie Lilang’s house at age 7]

[picture with friend on the S.S. Gordon]

THE WAR

DEATH OF SIBLINGS

Her older brother Honor (Honorato, named for…) drowned in Luneta Park.

DISPLACEMENT

Adoption by and loss of Auntie Lilang…

CAN WE INCLUDE A POWERPOINT?

Memory is spotty.

Nena [Teresito]

Acknowledge that deets are spotty for her early years.

She was born in Manila . . . The fourth of what would be ten children . . . Unofficial kinship adoption was a common practice, especially with large families.

Curious what languages she first heard, whether in the womb or after she was born. What did her older siblings were age 2, 4 and 6 speak to her in, especially the eldest, Zenaida, whom the family called “Zening”.

What language did Mamang was from Pangasinan — the land where salt is made — in Labrador, the next smallest town in the entire province which had a population of about 5,000 in 1929. There are Pangasinan words that even I remember her using. I knew the word “ambetel” as early or about the same time I learned “cold”.

Papang’s side of the family was from Laoag in the province of Ilocos Norte, where they spoke Ilokano.

At a certain point, Teresita, went to live with her beloved Auntie Lilang (explain which sister she is of Mamang’s). Kinship adoption. Lilang was a teacher who traveled from town to town, Teresita traveled with her. But as Lola told the story, at a certain point, when she was in Manila, a bridge washed out, not allowing her to return to Pangasinan.

Then she went to Laoag with half of her siblings. She remembers going to the freedom. Auntie Dora taught her how to work.

High school, she roomed with sister Fe, and cousin Emma or Fe?

USS General W. H. Gordon (AP-117) was a troop transport that served with the United States Navy in World War II. After the war, she was transferred to the US Army and served as USAT General W. H. Gordon. In the mid to late 1940s she sailed in trans-Pacific American President Lines passenger service with sister ship SS General Meigs. With the outbreak of the Korean War, she was reacquired by the Navy as a civilian-crewed Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) vessel, and redesignated USNS General W. H. Gordon (T-AP-117). She served again under the same designation in the Vietnam War.

General W. H. Gordon was launched under Maritime Commission contract by the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company of Kearny, New Jersey, 7 May 1944; and commissioned, after being acquired by the Navy, 29 June 1944.

I’m thinking of writing a few paragraphs at the top about that particular period of Lola’s life, what might have been going on in the world, what forces impacted her, what influenced her decisions. Caption the photos we do have from that time.