Oral History Collaborations

In this interview, originally recorded in person, Elizabeth "Liz" Taytayon  Tana  speaks with Meleia Simon-Reynolds, a member of the Watsonville is in the Heart team. Liz shares memories of visiting the Philippines with her family, the various homes and neighborhoods in the Pajaro Valley that she and her family lived in, gatherings with her families' extended kinship network which included the Tejada, Taytayon, and Cawaling families, and Filipino dances organized by the Filipino Women's Club of Watsonville and the Caballeros de Dimas-Alang. She talks about the relationship between father, Clemente Vargas Tana, her mother, Estelita "Lita" Taytayon Tabios, and her step father, Dioscoro Tabios. She also explains their work as strawberry farmers in Watsonville and Lita's job in the canneries. Throughout the interview, she discusses the ways in which her family, most notably her mother, cared for the manong and integrated them into their family as "uncles."