Millie Ribeiro
27 April 2024, Ellicott City, Maryland
1.Notes taken on the 27th of April 2024 during a Zoom Event organized by Lucy Marrero with the title of “Quilt of Valor”, for the purpose of honoring the military service in Korea during the Korean War, of Paul Marrero Miranda, her grandfather.
Paul served during the Korean War in the 7th US Army Division for 6 months and the remainder time in the 44th batallion during the years 1952 and 1953. He was assigned to North Korea, then travelled throuhought the entire country, including Seoul. While in Seoul he saw the devastation which he described as scenes from a WW2 movie. Later, when he was stationed in Puzan, because he was a fast runner, he participated in the training for the Olympic games and ran for the team of the US Army, winning various competitions.
At the zoom event several members of his family were present: Steve, his son; Lucy his Grand daughter; Nelson, Lucy’s Husband; David Abner, his nephew; Mario Marrero, his first Cousin once removed; and myself, his first Cousin once removed. David’s Half sister, Neima Saint-Rose also attended.
Steve lives in Rancho Cucamonga, California.
Lucy and Nelson lived just north of Los Angeles in LA County.
David lives in Brooklyn, NY.
Mario lives in Miami, FL. He is a pianist.
I live in Maryland.
To celebrate her Grand father’s accomplishments, Lucy made a Beautiful quilt, which she gifted to Paul during the event.
After the event, Paul mentioned my grandfather Ernesto. When my grandfather visited his sister Carmen in New York in the late 1940’s, he asked Paul to accompany him to Washington D.C, as an Interpreter and companion. Paul recals that the reason for traveling to Washington D.C. had to do with a Government Grant. Ernesto was blind. Paul has almost lost all of his sight at the age of 92. Paul remembres that they were hosted in D.C. by the then comissioner Resident in Congress, Jesus Pinero, who made arrangements for their accomodations at a Panamerican guesthouse. Ernesto asked for his help in making reservacions for dinner for the two of them and a member of a delegation for the Blind from Brasil who was also in D.C. Paul explained how difficult it turned out to be to find a restaurant that would not turn them away. They considered the delegate from Brasil to Black, and thus not able to be at their premisas. He did find one after much sedrching, and were able to have dinner together.
2. In 2018 Paul and Sheila visited me in Maryland. During that visit, Sheila shared many photos and stories of the family. There are a couple of stories that Paul shared with me then about his memories of my grandfather. One of them took place during that trip to Washington D.C.
Paul remembered that they were hosted in D.C. by the then Comissioner Resident for Puerto Rico in Congress, Jesus Piñero, who made arrangements for their accomodations at a Panamerican guesthouse. Ernesto asked for his help in making reservations for dinner for the two of them and a member of a delegation for the Blind from Brasil who was also in D.C. Paul explained how difficult it turned out to be to find a restaurant that would not turn them away. the delegate from Brasil was assumed to be black. He did find one after much searching, and were able to have dinner together.
Another of his memories of my grandfather had to do with meeting Helen Keller at an event in New York. My aunt Tatica kept the program from the 1942 Annual Meeting of the National Society for the Prevention of Blindness. Helen Keller is listed on the Second page as Honorary Vice President of the Society.
Paul mentioned that he had a very limited number of photos of his mother, especially from when she was Younger. He also mentioned that in one of my granfather’s trips to New York, Paul’s cousin Lydia Antonia had traveled with him. Paul remembered that someone had taken photos of them but he had never seen them.
Later in 2018, I traveled to San Juan, to celebrate my aunt Tatica’s 95th birthday. I mentioned to my Aunt Lydia Antonia that I had met Paul and Sheila, who had stayed at my house after a Hurricane had hit New Bern, NC. It made her very happy and brough back pleasant memories. She took the trouble to look for the photos of her trip to New York in 1946 and asked me to take photos of them and send them to Paul. Paul told me the photo of his mother my Aunt Lydia Antonia aspe me to send him, was one of the few he has of her. Here it is:
3. Notes about Carmen Miranda Otero and her brother Ernesto O. Miranda, from interviews and documentation I have collected over the years:
Paul’s mother was Carmen, my grandfather Ernesto’s youngest sister. Shortly after Carmen was born, her mother Socorro, had postpartum depression and spent the rest of her life at the Manicomio Insular de la calle de Beneficencia in Old San Juan, next to “El Morro”.
Socorro’s grandson, Tito, shared with his grandaughter, that Ernesto and his newly wedded wife took custody of Carmen when their father died in 1919. In the U.S. Census taken in January of 1920, Carmen’s name is listed as being 16 years old and living with her brother Ernesto and his family in Cataño, Puerto Rico.
In 1920, Ernesto, my grandmother and my father moved to San Pedro de Macorís. Ernesto world be working at the Ingenio Las Pajas, in the Dominican Republic. They took Carmen with them. Ernesto’s oldest daughter was born in San Juan in August of 1921. There is a record of them traveling back to San Juan in May of 1921 in the SS Marina, when my grandmother would have been pregnant with Maria Elena.
I have not found records of Carmen traveling back to Dominican Republic after 1921. She must have stayed back in San Juan, considering she might have been 18 by then. I have found the certificate for her wedding to Pedro Pablo Marrero Vargas in June 1923.
Here is a photo from the archives kept by Ernesto’s daughter Tatica, of Ernesto at Ingenio las Pajas in 1923. It gives an idea of life in Ingenio Las Pajas in the Early 1920s. Ernesto is in the middle of the Second row, the shortest one in the photo.
In February of 1924, Ernesto, his wife and his children moved back to San Juan, to live at #82 Calle de San Sebastián in Old San Juan, in order to be only two blocs away from Socorro, their mom, who was still living at the Manicomio Insular, where she died in 1926.
If and when you travel to San Juan, you will probably visit Old San Juan. You will want to stop by Calle del Sol #7. It is the Address that Carmen’s father gave as his own in an letter he published in the newspapers in 1901.
I took a photograph of the house as it stands today. Here it is:
Two doors down, Calle del Sol # 3 is the house where Carmen and Ernesto’s paternal grandmother died, according to the Information found in her death certificate. Her name was Antonia Rodriguez Garcés.
