Issue link: http://ihouse.uberflip.com/i/703833
49 during WWII her family lived in Manila. Her father was head of the anti-Japanese society in Manila, and her mother was a physician. One day, the Japanese came and took the two parents off – they didn't see their mother for two weeks, and they didn't see their father for two years – but he lived through, I gather. I think Marciana must have been aware that her father had been active in the anti-Japanese group because, when the Japanese came for her parents, she covered her siblings' faces with dirt and dressed them up modestly. They had a couple of servants, and she sent their maid, with her two siblings, to a neighbor's house, figuring that was the safest place they could be at this point. Then she spent the rest of the day – evening, early morning hours – with a blanket over her head, and either a flashlight or a candle, looking through her father's papers. She figured out that it would be good if she could keep some of them, and so she buried them. I think it was under the back porch. She burned others. Then, just as daylight was breaking, she changed and tried to look as unattractive as possible and went off down the road to the neighbor's house. About an hour later, the Japanese apparently found out who her father had been and came looking for any evidence. But Marciana was gone. Marciana and I shared a wonderful summer session up at House Five, one block east of Warring. The session was just six weeks. Every morning she went over to the window and pulled up a bucket that was tied to a rope. And every morning there were fresh roses in the bucket. It was an attempt by a young man from Hong Kong – he knew a lovely person when he saw one – to make her his own. He did not win. Then there was Wen Yen and her twin sister, Wen Chou. Wen Yen and her sister had snuck out of China; they had had to crouch down in the back seat of a vehicle, covering their heads. When Milt Leong saw these two beautiful women come in through the door – Wen Yen and Wen Chou – everybody teased him: which one was he going to pursue? Wen Chou married Phillip McBride. Wen Yen married Milt Leong. They moved into a house on Grizzly Peak. These were the days of restrictive housing. There was an attorney who lived at I-House, Bob Hessler. They arranged that Bob would buy the house for them, he would buy it in his name, and then sell it to them, so that they could have that lovely home. Then there's Joan [Obidine] Rush – she's the spirit of I-House. Joan's decorations are still famous. I have a lovely memory from when we were still in the fraternity houses, from our first House dance. Joan asked the girls if anybody had long gloves. Here we were, dedicated students, but she came up with five pairs of long gloves. I gave her a pair of black ones my mother had given me – I don't know where I thought I was going to go with long gloves! She stuffed all the gloves with paper. Then there was a harp – I don't know where they got the harp. She put a background of black against one of the windows, put up a podium, and out of the chandelier – she had that decorated with cotton, like heaven – out of the cotton, came these gloves, reaching for the harp. Afterward, she was so tired that she didn't make it to the party!