A Simple Life of Jen
Shinobu Lai, written by her family, as follows:
Jen Shinobu
Lai, a nurse, midwife, and a chef,
died at home on Monday, February 2, 2009. She was.89
Mrs.Lai, of
Middleton, MA, was born as a Japanese citizen in 1919 in Taiwan.
She was forced to become the citizen without a country on April
28,1952 at the signing of San Francisco Peace Treat, and
voluntarily became the citizen of the US in 1976, at the
celebration of the US Bicentennial. She was educated in
Japanese, but must communicate to her children in Mandarin, and
later to her grand children and great grand children in English.
As the second
generation of Christian in Taiwan, she was trained as a surgical
nurse at Tainan Christian Hospital. Later, she was further
trained to become a midwife. She had delivered more than 1,000
babies. She became widow at the age of 38 and never remarried.
She raised her two children so that they do not have to quit
school and become factory workers and helper, a common practice
at the time.
She leaves one
daughter, Lily Tsai and son-in-law Martin Tsai of Hamburg, NJ
and a son, Francis and his wife Foun of Middleton, MA; four
grand children, Hannah Lai, married to Christos Mandanis; David
Lai, married to Mayuko Watanabe; John Hans Tsai; and John
William Tsai, married to Melissa Dureska. She also leaves five
great grand children, Alex, Kallisti and Sophia Mandanis, Maya
and Yumi Lai.
Island
Mother and Midwife, written by Mr. Pike Messenger and appeared
on The water closet*
Shinobu Jen So
Lai died earlier this month in Middleton at the age of
eighty-nine. She was born in 1919 on the beautiful island of
Taiwan. Taiwan, half the size of New England, is cradled in the
arms of several seas, which provided water for her parent’s
orchard. To the west are the shallow Formosa Straits separating
it from China, a separation the Chinese deny; to the north is
the shallow East China Sea; to the east the very deep Philippine
Sea, which blends with the Pacific; and to the south the South
China Sea. The eastern half is a great mountain range running
north to south with peaks rising over 10,000 feet, from it
foothills, gently sloping west to the strait, is rich
agricultural land.
Shinobu, a
Japanese name meaning endure, spoke her native Taiwanese and
then studied Japanese in school and later learned Mandarin and
English. She went on to become a surgical nurse and then public
health nurse out of a Missionary hospital. She married and had
two children. Later she became a midwife and helped an
estimated thousand babies enter the world, traveling by bicycle
to attend their laboring mothers.
At 38 her
husband died leaving her with two teenage children. She took a
second job so they could continue their education. Both went on
to successful careers and raised families of the their own here
in the states. Thirty years ago Shinobu moved here to be with
them. She helped with her grandchildren and worked part-time as
a good chef.
An old Closeteer
and wife, who have known Shinobu for the past decade, had grown
to love this strong, talented, friendly, and very generous woman
from a culture half a world away. What has all this to do with
water, our column’s subject? Every time the old Closeteer
thinks of her he remembers several visits his ship, courtesy of
the Navy, made through Taiwanese salt waters, water quite like
that of the amniotic fluid that accompanied the lucky babies
competent Shinobu delivered.
Directly water
related or not, we just want to wish a fond farewell to this
little known migrant to our area. The Closeteer, when he thinks
of good Shinobu, imagines a young woman, one he never knew, in
white nurse’s uniform pedaling countryside paths en route her
patients.
*Danvers
Water Filtration Plant, Lake Street, Middleton
The water
closet, is provided by the Middleton Stream Team <StreamTeam@comcast.net>
(978) 777-4584
