Elizabeth "Liz" Tana interviewed by Meleia Simon-Reynolds

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 family’s 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 her father, Clemente Vargas Tana, her mother, Estelita “Lita” Taytayon Tabios, and her stepfather, Dioscoro Tabios. She also explains their work as strawberry farmers in Watsonville and Lita’s job in the canneries. Throughout the interview, she discusses how her family, most notably her mother, cared for the manong and integrated them into their family as “uncles.”

Elizabeth "Liz" Tana

Meleia Simon-Reynolds

April 30, 2022

Watsonville is in the Heart (WIITH) is a community-driven public history initiative to preserve and uplift stories of Filipino migration and labor in the city of Watsonville and greater Pajaro Valley. All oral history interviews are donated to WIITH by the narrators. Copyright is held by WIITH. Oral history interview recordings and transcripts are available for unrestricted use and reproduction by educators and researchers. Please note that the recordings on this website are provided via escholarship. For access to oral history audio files, please contact the project director at wiith@ucsc.edu. If you are an oral history narrator and would like to remove your interview from the archive website, please contact the project director.

English

Oral History

Meleia Simon-Reynolds

Elizabeth "Liz" Taytayon Tana

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1:49:40

Link to audio recording on escholarship: Elizabeth "Liz" Tana interviewed by Meleia Simon-Reynolds