My
first lifetime started on Butler Street in November of 19__ as the pride and
joy of Manny and Sandy Dizon. Manny was a pro boxer who became a neighborhood
icon thanks to the advent of television in homes throughout the country. He
settled into a job with the Coast Guard once his boxing days were over and
found an apartment where we lived until the mid-60’s after my sister Lea was
born.
My
grandparents, only one of whom I ever met, had the necessary credentials to
produce two such offspring who, in turn, spawned an individual such as yours
truly. Teodulfo Dizon was born to a captain of the Spanish Army and his wife
who were stationed on the Philippine Islands at the turn of the century. After
the collapse of the garrison during the Spanish-American War, my
great-grandparents chose to remain in their home in the city of San Pedro.
While attending grade school, Teodulfo took on work as a houseboy at the local
US military base which had replaced the Spanish garrison.
In
my novel Generations II (unpublished as
of this writing), I portrayed Grandpa as a card-playing, womanizing slickster,
which was not very far from the truth. He was unquestionably a cunning
opportunist. He made a strong connection with Colonel Sibley and his family,
and when they got reassigned to Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, they
offered to take him to America and he didn’t think twice. When I went to visit
him in 1973, he was teary-eyed with regret that he never saw his family again.
Regardless, when he got to San Antonio he became a prominent figure within the
Filipino community, having known most of those who migrated there. He had the
foresight to organize a social group, the Filipino-American Society, which
named him as their president. The Texas Heritage Society in San Antonio
features my Grandpa in their downtown museum to this day.
(To be continued...)
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