Irao-de los Reyes and Ibao Family Collection

Juan “Johnny” T. de los Reyes was born on January 10, 1910, in the barangay of Navitas which is in the municipality of Numancia in the Aklan province of the Philippines. In the 1920s, Juan immigrated to the United States and first landed in Seattle. He eventually made his way down to Watsonville in 1937 where he worked as an irrigator for Willoughby Farms and lived in a Filipino labor camp on Riverside Road. In 1961, Juan's niece in the Philippines, Lu Reyes Irao, introduced him to her sister-in-law, Luisa Irao, and the two became pen pals. Luisa was born on February 16, 1929 and was a schoolteacher in Tablas, Romblon, Philippines. A year later, Juan visited the Philippines to marry her. After arriving in the United States, Luisa petitioned family members, including her sister, Bernabela Gomez Irao, to come to the United States. Bernabela was born on January 6, 1935. Once in Watsonville, Bernabela met and later married Juan’s friend and housemate, Serbolo Tulay Ibao, who was thirty years her senior. Using money that he had won on a gambling trip in Reno, Serbolo purchased a house on Elkhorn Road in Royal Oaks in 1968 where he and Bernabela would eventually live with Juan and Luisa. Serbolo subsequently used his winnings to help other Filipino families purchase homes. Due to health complications that left Luisa unable to have children, she and Juan adopted a daughter from Serbolo and Bernabela, who by then had two children, Maria Jessebel “Maribel” Irao Ibao (b. December 19, 1966 – d. June 16, 2015) and Edward Irao Ibao (b. January 13, 1971 – d. March 1, 2019). On January 19, 1973, Joanne de los Reyes (now Joanne de los Reyes-Hilario) was born and adopted by the couple. Following Joanne's adoption, Serbolo and Bernabela Ibao had another child, Janice Irao Ibao, born on May 29, 1974.

The Irao-de los Reyes and Ibao Family Collection was contributed to Watsonville is in the Heart by Luisa Irao and Johnny de los Reyes' daughter, Joanne de los Reyes-Hilario, in 2021. The collection contains fifty-eight items in total. It includes two oral history interviews with Joanne de los Reyes- Hilario during which she reflects on her parents' migration and labor histories, her extended family network in the Pajaro Valley, and her experiences growing up between the Philippines and the Pajaro Valley. The collection also contains fifty-six material culture items including photographs that document gatherings of the Irao-de los Reyes, Ibao, Tabios, Taytayon, Tejada, Revester, and Cawaling families at the Irao-de los Reyes' family homes on Riverside Road and Elkhorn Road. Other notable items include traditional terno dresses worn by Luisa to Filipino community events hosted by the Filipino Women's Club of Watsonville, the Filipino Catholic Association, and the Fil-Visayan Association.

Joanne de los Reyes-Hilario