Adelaide daSilva

"Nana" my dad's mom what I remember of her during my younger years (she passed away when I was real young) but I still remember her cooking :) She was a magnificant cook.. gourmet style... and baking was messy with her.. everything was everywhere but she cleaned it right up.. Everything was always clean clean very clean .. I remember her giving me a playing card to take off lil lil spots of the polished wood floors...

I remember her saving me from grandpa's glasses of olive oil that he actually slipped by her and gave it to me and ugh it made me sick to my stomach (literally)

She used to work at the girls home (Dentention Home) and used to bring the girls home for an outing to look at the beach and work.. the girls loved it..(this was only stories I heard passed down)

In punchbowl on their land Nana and her daughters they tended to cattle , sewed baked bread in the old portuguese oven and even made portuguese sausage amongst many other things that she taught them..

Nana's mom died when she was young.. so they were orphaned.. think close to after the family portrait was taken...So the family took the older children but nana was sent to St Anthony's orphanage downtown.. where she was raised by nuns and they taught her all her skills... she later met my grandfather... Adam.. She would of had 24 plus kids.. but many were miscarriages .. my dad was only 2lbs and premature but Kapiolani said he wouldn't make it but nana the strong woman that she was took him home and rubbed him with olive oil and fed him with a eye dropper.. he was born with a missing vertabrae which made him crippled..but nana was a blessing and took very good care of her son and her other children... she used to say Poocha ding.. (don't know how to spell it) but it meant poor thing..

She was a strict woman that was the boss :)