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FK: Well tell me about your immediate family.

AB: Both sides? Or mostly...

FK: Yeah. Uh-huh.

AB: Well, as I mentioned, both have lived on Bainbridge for a long, long time. I guess I'll start with my dad's side. My grandma's family are Croatian and they came for the mill originally, Port Blakely and Port Madison. But she grew up... she was born on the island and grew up over in Eagle Harbor. And she is a long time islander.

FK: What was her maiden name?

AB: Rerecich. And she... her uncles were fishermen and so they fished right in the Seattle area and up in Alaska. And she met my grandpa, who is originally from Alaska but came to Seattle I think when he was one or two and he grew up in, on Queen Anne. Then he made his way to Bainbridge to be with my grandma and they lived here for a long, long time. And then my mom's side, my grandpa Felix came over when he was eighteen. Actually no, I take that back. He left the Philippines when he was eighteen and then went to work on the pineapple plantations in Hawaii. And then I think he spent two years there and then came into Seattle to work, work on the island for the strawberry farming, but then also in Alaska in the fishing canneries. So he was, I think, on Bainbridge in 1924 or twenty-six or so. And then my grandma Cion came when he went back to visit his family. And then married and came... all four lived on Bainbridge the rest of their lives.

FK: Tell me about your mother and your father.

AB: Both of them were raised on Bainbridge, too. [Laughs] My roots are here, really. They, same thing, they went to elementary school, went, graduated from Bainbridge High School. My dad and mom met on the ferry actually, coming home to visit their family. My dad was flying and my mom was a flight attendant, actually. They didn't meet on the plane, they met on the ferry coming home to visit their parents. But they... you know, they lived away. Same kind of deal, lived away for a while. Lived in California for a short time and then up in Oak Harbor and Whidbey Island, 'cause my dad was in the navy. That's where he learned to fly. But then when it was time to have kids and everything, they had property near Strawberry Hill and so they built their house there. Lived here for almost twenty-five years of so. And then recently just moved. But longtime islanders too.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2007 Densho. All Rights Reserved.