THE VENTURA FAMILY
IIn 1926, my father, Leon Ventura immigrated to the United States alone at age 17 to join his older brother in San Francisco. Leon worked various jobs during his stay which included working at San Francisco State University on the maintenance crew. As World War II was beginning, he decided
to join the US Army where he had basic training in the 1st Filipino Infantry located at Camp Beale, CA. After basic training he was deployed to three different tours in New Guinea, Ardennes in France, and the Philippines where he was a machine gunner, sniper and survived multiple hand-to-hand combat battles. During his last tour, Leon met my mother, Epifania in Palompon, Leyte, Philippines where it is believed his troop escorted General Douglas McArthur, who was there thanking the Filipino soldiers for their bravery. After World War II, Leon married Epifania and moved to Piddig, Ilocos Norte. This is where they raised their family and farmed rice, sugar cane, and tobacco. As an American Citizen, he was obligated to pay the Philippine government.
At the age of 5, Judith and her family left Hawai‘i and moved to Watsonville. For the next few decades, the family worked and moved around the Central Coast (while their children attended local schools): farmwork in the Pajaro Valley and Davenport; cannery work in the sardine factories in Monterey; various jobs in Lompoc. There were few American-born Pinays when Judith was growing up. That scarcity, together with Judith’s beauty, made her greatly sought after. She was Filipino Santa Maria Queen in 1936. Judith met the tall and handsome Bob Tagami, a dishwasher, in Lompoc.
Roberto “Bob” (aka Mariano) Lanias Tagami was born in Badoc, Ilocos Norte, Philippines to Domingo Tagami and Hilaria Lanias. Around 1933, at the age of 13, Bob left with his father to work in Hawaii in the sugar cane and pineapple plantations. Their labor included stops in Oahu, the Big Island, and Central California. His father would later return to Badoc. Bob decided to stay in the US. He would never see his homeland again. The surname “Tagami” was inherited from Japanese Catholic ancestors (of the Otomo samurai clan) who had fled southern Japan for the Philippines during the Tokugawa Shogunate, when Christians were persecuted or forced into exile.
Bob and Judith’s early relationship had been tumultuous. At sixteen, she married another Filipino suitor, Jerry Caoile, and had a daughter Andrea. However, that marriage did not last. Judith and Bob reunited after her divorce, and they were married a few years later. They settled in Watsonville, although Bob followed the seasons: Alaskan salmon canneries; Imperial Valley, Watsonville, and Arizona for lettuce harvesting. In addition to caring for the elder Balcenas, Judith worked at Mrs. Tabasa’s Filipino restaurant, packing sheds in Corralitos, and local canneries. The family grew. There were eight children altogether: Andrea, Lené, Robert, Rey, Fred, Jeff, Richard, and Alan. During the late 50’s through early 60’s, the family sharecropped strawberries on Holm Road. They were active in various community organizations: Watsonville Filipino Community, the Filipino Women’s Club, Gran Oriente, and Visayan Trust. Bob died in 2012 and Judith died in 2015, preceded by Jeff, Rey, and Lené. There are 9 grandchildren, and numerous great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.