Auntie Mary

 

I've been going over old family photos and thinking of all my wonderful aunts and uncles. My mother came from a family of eight children. That felt like a big family to me. We grew up with all the aunts and uncles moving to the west coast from Texas after the war except for the eldest sister Mary who married and moved to Hawaii. We would love it when my aunt and cousins would visit from such a far away exotic place. In the 1950's it was rare that people we knew would travel to the Hawaiian islands. When my aunt and her family would come it would be a big deal for all the family. My grandma would make rolls and rolls of sushi and there would be a feast. I thought my aunt was beautiful. She had long black hair to her waist and I would watch her braid it and wrap the braids around the top of her head. She was elegant and quiet. Her sisters all looked up to her and the six sisters would laugh and be so merry with "Mama" (my grandma) in the center of the family reunion. Today I am reminiscing about my family and the eldest Jingu belle "Mary".

 

The Jingu family gardens

 

Miyoshi and Eizo Jingu with their three eldest children from left to right Baby Rae, Ruth and Mary (the Eldest of 8 children) 

Mary seated with daughter Tamiko Standing Uncle Kenji and son Bob

Aria age 4 with my mother Ruth and sister Mary on one of her visits to California around 1988.