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I was born in Manila March 20th 1924. I went to a French Convent (Assumption Convent, same one than my daughter Jane, and my mother). My mother was one of the first students in their Convent when it was inaugurated. But my mother went to the Convent in Iloilo, not the one in Manila.

I first met Arthur when I was 16.

After I finished school I worked for the British Consulate in Manila. I worked there from July till the war started. I was attached to the naval officer decoding messages of the ships that were around the area (people where worried that a war could start).

I finished my schooling in 1941. My father died that year. And 10 months later the Japanese war started (when they bombed Pearl Harbour and the Philippines (a day after Pearl Harbour)). My mother and I were then interned by the Japanese in Santo Tomas Interment Camp, in Manila. We stayed there for 3 years until we were liberated by the American first Cavalry division of the U.S. Army on February 3rd 1945. (When General Mc Arthur returned).

The day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour, we knew that they were coming already to Manila. My sister Jessie had a Spanish boyfriend, Cesar Zulueta. He came into her house and told her that if they didn’t get married they were going to be separated. She had a white skirt and a wet white shirt. So, she put the shirt in the oven and went to a church to get married that same day.

After the liberation my mother and I went to US, to stay with a cousin of my mothers, Walter Chiene. Walter Chiene was married to a very nice lady named Jane Chiene. They had and adopted sun, Bob (how was away at the time, because he had gone to war). We stayed in Coos bay, Oregon. We were there for almost a year, and I worked in the office of a furniture shop. After that, we went to San Francisco, because Jesse had then come to the States to see us. I there took a job working in the British Consulate. After that we went back to Manila in 1947. Jesse and I decided to go back to Manila to start over again. (Cesar was working there so Jesse had to go. My mother and I decided to go with her).

In Manila I got a job in the office of a steam-ship company, and met Arthur again. St George’s dance we met again in April. We got engaged in June, and married in July 1948. Eileen was born in Manila in 1950. When she was 3 months old we went to Australia (Perth), and lived there until 1956. Jane was born in Perth in 1954.

In 1956 we returned to Manila.

Arthur had his own company in Australia then, but sold it before we left to Manila.