First, let me say that I have been researching some intriguing, yet relatively unknown, tales of the Old West for my next book. As many of you are aware, one of my hobbies is researching 19th-century period newspapers. I've found a few stories that I think you will find pretty interesting. And since my second book is about three years overdue, I feel that now is as good a time as any to explain why that's the case.
Actually, for me to say I'm about three years overdue on Book Two is about right, because it was about three years ago that my Mom became ill and ended up in hospice. So, yes, that's the reason I didn't follow up Book One with a second, and it's why you haven't seen many stories on my blog for a while.
In 2022, a few days after my Mom attended a Marine Birthday Ball as a guest of my Marine Corps League detachment, Mom had to go to Kaiser Hospital emergency room for breathing problems. Mom has suffered from Congestive Heart Failure for many years. On the day that she had to go to the ER, her oxygen levels were extremely low. Two days later, she was admitted to another hospital and would be there for about a week. After that, she was taken to a skilled nursing facility for almost a month. She went home in mid-December of 2022 and has been in hospice care at her home ever since.
My Mom's name is Frances Jolenta Correa. She was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on November 6th, 1934. She grew up in Kalihi on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. She is the only child of Manuel and Cecelia Gouveia.
Her father, my grandfather, was Manuel R. Gouveia, who was born in Maui. During his life, he was a Merchant Seaman, a cattle rancher, and a businessman in Honolulu. It was while he was a Merchant Seaman that he met and soon after married Cecelia Lorena Coehlo in 1932. My mom shared how her mother, my grandmother, graduated from McKinley High School in Honolulu. Mom said that was a big deal to her family since most of them back then didn't make it past grade school. Grandma began working for the federal government at Pearl Harbor in 1940, when my mom was six years old.
One of my Mom's most memorable stories to tell was about how she remembered watching the Japanese war planes fly over her home in Kalihi on December 7, 1941. She was 7 years old and was walking to church that morning with my grandmother when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. She said she remembered how my grandmother turned them around and tried to get home to safety as quickly as possible.
Mom said my grandfather was in Ewa Beach fishing that Sunday morning when the bombing took place. She said Grandma made her crawl under her bed to be safe. She said she remembered when Grandma waited for what seemed like forever until she told her to come out from hiding. Mom recalled crying so hard that all she wanted to do was go to sleep until the nightmare passed. She said she did just that. She went to bed, pulled the covers over her head, and waited for her dad to get home.
Like many of her generation, she had vivid memories of being raised during the Great Depression and living through World War II. My mom talked about how my grandfather took whatever work was available to try to make ends meet. She talked about how she and her parents lived with her grandparents in Kalihi as a way of surviving the hard times. They spoke little to no English, so they all spoke Portuguese at home. She also remembered having a dress made from flour sacks that her mom had made. And yes, she mentioned how they had a garden in the back of their Kalihi home and grew a lot of their own food.
My mom talked about how she remembered the food rationing during World War II. I remember how she said she hated how scary it was during the blackouts of the war years. She hated that they had to have black curtains and that no lights could be seen from any of the homes. She remembered standing in line with her grandfather for food during World War II. And yes, she mentioned how their vegetable garden, which they used to grow their own food, turned into a Victory Garden during the war years.
She went to public school in Kalihi until she entered High School. It was then that her mom and dad, along with her grandparents, moved to the other side of Honolulu, to Kaimuki, so that she would be closer to her school. She attended Sacred Hearts Academy in Kaimuki. Sacred Hearts Academy is a historic Roman Catholic college preparatory school for girls. It was founded in 1909 to serve the needs of early Hawaii Catholics in the former Territory of Hawaii. Mom has always taken pride in the fact that she graduated from Sacred Hearts Academy in 1952.
Soon after graduating, she met Herman Clifford Correa of Waihawa, Hawaii. She married the man who would be my dad almost a year later, in November 1953. Together, my parents had six children. The first was my older brother Herman Ray, then I came along, and after me came my brother Vernon, my brother Howard, my sister Valerie, and then my sister Joanie.
I remember growing up with my great-grandfather, my grandfather and grandmother, my mom and dad, and five of us kids in a three-bedroom, one-bath house on Pahoa Avenue in Kaimuki, until 1964. That was the year that my great-grandfather passed away at the age of 88. I was 8 years old when he passed away. Since we didn't have enough beds in the house, I slept with my great-grandfather. Since my great-grandfather spoke little to no English, we spoke Portuguese at home. That changed after he passed away. His wish was that we only speak English because we are Americans. And yes, we stopped speaking Portuguese at home after he died. Of course, a few months after my great-grandfather passed, my sister Joanie was born. So yes, we were back up to ten of us in that house. We lived in that house for many years. And frankly, it was always the place that we loved the most.
My dad was a welder and construction worker most of his life. And for those who understand how hard it is to raise a big Catholic family, Dad had to go where the work took him. And yes, with the work being hard to find in Honolulu in the early 1970s, Mom and Dad moved us to California in 1972. That year, Mom and Dad bought a home in Hayward, California.
Mom started working for K Mart in those years. And yes, she worked at K Mart for quite a few years. Of course, that wasn't the first job that she ever had. In fact, there was a time when all of us kids were in school, and she worked at the Sheraton Hotel in Waikiki. She also worked at Sea Life Park for a few years before moving to California.
Mom and Dad upgraded to buy a home in a much nicer neighborhood in Hayward in 1976. And yes, they lived in that house for the next 25 years until they bought their last home in the small town of Ione, California, in 2001.
Sadly, Dad passed away in 2005. And as for Mom, well, she's kept busy ever since then by being involved with friends and family. From joining up with other ladies who enjoyed playing cards and a dice game called "Bunco," to joining a "Red Hat" Club, and attending lunches and dinners with friends, she has certainly kept herself busy. Of course, one of the things you learn in life is that even though Mom beat my great-grandfather's record for longevity, even entering her 90s, we kids know that we are never too old to visit Mom.
A few things I like to remember about doing things with Mom involve taking her to Yosemite National Park back in 2020. I recall discovering that year that she had never been there. I couldn't believe that she had been in California since 1972 and never made it to see Yosemite National Park. To remedy that, my wife, Deanna, and I took her to Yosemite with us one day when she thought we were just going out for an early lunch. She loved it.
And yes, there was that time back in 2014, when my wife, Deanna, and I, along with my older brother, Herman Ray, took our Mom to Los Angeles to appear on the television show, The Price Is Right. When my brother and my Mom came up with the idea, I had to confess that I had never watched the show. Of course, that didn't matter.
I remember how much fun it actually was driving the 6 hours South to Los Angeles. Arriving the day before we're supposed to be at the television studio, we stayed the night at a hotel on the same day that the Hollywood Christmas Parade took place. So with my Mom in a wheelchair, we went to watch that. Mom loved it. And the next day, we were second in line to get into the studio door. Yes, in a line that must have had over a hundred people in it. All in all, we all had a great time. It was quite a show. In fact, I discovered that the production of the show is significantly better than what we see on television.
As most who know me know well, I'm not one for big cities. As soon as it was over, we got out of Los Angeles as quickly as the traffic allowed. I drove home that night just to get out of there.
Mom had just turned 88 years old on November 6th, 2022. I kidded her about becoming tied for the record in our immediate family for longevity. No one on my Dad's side of the family, nor my Mom's, had lived as long as my great-grandfather. It was a record that I had hoped she would extend a lot farther.
On November 10th of that year, Mom joined my wife, Deanna, and me to attend the Marine Corps Birthday Ball, put on by the Marine Corps League detachment to which I belong. In actuality, I'm the Commandant for the Marine Corps League Motherlode Detachment 1080 in Ione. Mom was my guest. It was the first time she had ever attended a Marine Corps Ball in all the years I've been associated with the Marine Corps. I cannot tell you how wonderful it feels to know she finally had the chance to attend.
By November 16th of that year, she was having breathing troubles, and her Congestive Heart Failure troubles had started up. That was 2022, and yes, she's been in hospice ever since. Over the last three years, she's had her ups and downs. In April of this year, unable to walk or use a walker, she found herself confined to bed. Other than getting her out of bed on July 26, when I got her into a wheelchair for a little more than an hour, she has been in bed.
My older brother passed away about nine years ago. So it's been up to my sisters, my youngest brother, and me to provide Mom with 24/7 coverage since April. It hasn't been easy, but frankly, the Certified Nursing Assistants working for Hospice have the hard job of keeping her clean. I really don't know how they do it, day in and day out. For my sisters, my brother, and me, during this time, our job hasn't changed. We are here for Mom to make sure she's comfortable.
My sister, Val, who recently moved from Idaho to Indiana, has been a blessing. She has chipped in by flying out to help. In fact, though Val was out here in August for a few weeks, she returned a couple of weeks ago to take over for a while. Val's going to be here for the next few weeks. She is a Godsend.
So now, since many of you have written to find out what's been going on, as you haven't seen me posting anything new for a while, I wanted to share what's been happening with me lately.
And here's something else, in retrospect, one thing I've been thinking about a lot lately is how, over the years, I've made a point to spend at least one day a week visiting my parents. I started in after my grandfather passed away in 1988. I figured that as long as I wasn't on the road out of town for work, I would make sure that I gave my folks some of my time. And yes, after Dad passed away, I found it increasingly important to visit Mom more often than regularly.
Most of the time, when my wife and I would visit Mom, we would "talk story" about the old days. Most of the time, we would play cards or board games, joke, and laugh about some of the silliest things. And yes, every once in a while, usually after Mom took an extra turn during some board game, she'd get embarrassed and say laughingly, "You'll miss me when I'm gone."
What I know about Mom is that she wanted a big family because she was an only child. I know for a fact that she loves her family and friends. And though, as of today, October 16th, 2025, she appears tired and nearing the end of her time with us, I thank God for giving me her as a Mom. I know in my heart that I'll be forever grateful that she shared her life with us. And no, I don't think she'll ever know how right she was -- I'll miss her when she's gone. Yes, I will.
Tom Correa
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