LIHUE — War brought Norma Vega Castillo to Kauai. Commitment and the search for a better life kept her here. The mother of six daughters passed away Easter morning 2014. Tomorrow, the family will celebrate the Filipino woman’s life at
LIHUE — War brought Norma Vega Castillo to Kauai.
Commitment and the search for a better life kept her here.
The mother of six daughters passed away Easter morning 2014. Tomorrow, the family will celebrate the Filipino woman’s life at a church service in Lihue followed by a gathering at Kauai Veterans War Memorial Convention Hall.
But what is particularly of note is that Norma was among Kauai’s first war brides. She was a 19-year-old from Manila and Wallace W. Castillo was a U.S. Army intelligence officer raised in Kapahi. The two met in 1945 after General Douglas MacArthur had retaken the Philippines from the occupying Japanese. The two were married in Manila in 1946. She was to join him in Kauai after being admitted to the U.S. under a special law waiving immigration restrictions for war brides.
“My father was proud of her,” Stephanie Castillo said, “He married a beautiful woman and he wanted to show her off.”
Castillo was referring to what she understood to be his intentions when he was throwing a drinking party upon her arrival in Kauai. But the welcome wasn’t what Norma had envisioned.
“She wanted her own special time together with him after traveling on the U.S.S. Marine Jumper for 27 days,” Castillo said, “She wanted romance.”
Castillo said her mother didn’t want to leave her family in the Philippines and wasn’t even sure she loved Wallace.
“My mother’s mother and sisters convinced her short of coercion to marry him so she could have a better life,” Castillo said. “The disappointments were huge when she came. She found out he came from a gambling family. When she arrived he was partying with his friends, not what she expected.”
Wallace’s father raised chickens in Kapahi and made a life for his family as a cockfighter for 50 years.
Norma was among more than 500,000 war brides from 50 different countries who married military men, hoping for a better life in the U.S. According to Castillo, Norma’s welcome was a far better one than other hopeful war brides.
“Many of them arrived with nobody there to greet them,” Castillo said. “They had no idea of where they were going to go. Some found their husbands were poor and living in shacks with no electricity.”
Norma made the best of her new life despite cultural differences between her Filipino Hawaii family’s lifestyle and the new one she had married into in Kauai.
“After she started a family and began living her own life, not his life, not her parent’s life, not her in-laws’ life,” Castillo said. “She was happier. Her joy came from her children. We were a cohesive unit.”
But long distance cross-country trips from San Francisco to Washington D.C. that included episodes of discrimination because Wallace looked dark-skinned were frustrating.
“They appeared to be a mixed marriage,” Castillo said. “My Dad was dark and my Mom was fair-complected. We’d tried to eat in a restaurant and they wouldn’t allow us.”
My dad would send her in to register at motels so they would have a place to stay.
“She was strong, courageous and bold. That is where her beauty was,” Castillo said. “We saw her beauty in the way she raised us. She wanted him to settle down and he was a career man. She did a beautiful job of living the life she was given. She was the center of our home,” Castillo said.
At one point, Norma’s in-laws offered to pay for her return to Manila when they noticed her sadness.
“There was no option to go back for her,” Castillo said. “She was not a quitter. In the end, she was happy with her children and happy with Kauai. She made the best of a challenging life. Do we have the resilience to meet challenges? That’s what my mom showed us.”
Norma is survived by her seven daughters and their husbands, 17 grandchildren, 38 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.
The Celebration of Life liturgical service is at 11:30 Saturday at St. Michael’s and All Angels Episcopal Church, 4364 Hardy Street, Lihue. Prior to the service, there will be a showing at 9:30 of the documentary “Strange land: my mother’s war bride story,” produced by Stephanie Castillo. The paina will be from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Kauai Veterans War Memorial Exhibition Hall.
• Lisa Ann Capozzi, features and education reporter can be reached at lcapozzi@thegardenisland.com.
