“One night, I received a call in Andersen. One of the ladies — Rose Naputi — says, ‘You know Fe is saying she loves you,’” recalls Tun Frank of how he found out about Fe Luz Ada’s inchoate feelings for him.
He tells Variety that he and Fe had an opportunity to talk about it the day after that revelation.
With joy in his eyes, Tun Frank remembers the day he and Fe sat at the back of Joe Lifoifoi’s car.
He says he broke the silence and had the courage to ask Fe, “Is that true what Rose was telling me?”
And there was a nod that prompted Tun Frank to ask, “Prove it.”
And there goes that first kiss that will remain indelible in Tun Frank’s memory.
Now, 50 years hence, Tun Frank admits he owes it to Joe Lifoifoi if not for his lending him his car he wouldn’t have known Fe’s true feelings for him.
Both are convinced that they are meant for each other.
Tan Fe tells Variety that she knew from the start that she would end up marrying Tun Frank.
She says she and Tun Frank were good friends but deep inside, she knew they are going to end up getting married for some reason.
She remembers hearing discouragements from some people but these did not dissuade her from marrying Tun Frank. She says, “But still, I know in my heart, that I am going to marry him.”
Describing her husband, she says she likes a person who is not foolish. “He has been honest and I like somebody that I can challenge.”
Meanwhile, Tun Frank says he admires Tan Fe’s mother who is a school teacher. He believes that her impressions of him changed the day he finished at the top of his class. He says that gave her an opportunity to see him in a different light.
Tan Fe comes from a well-to-do family. Born on Jan. 2, 1945, Tan Fe is one of six children of Herman Torres Ada, a hospital administrator, and Candelaria Pereira Cruz, a school teacher, of Hagatna, Guam.
She describes her childhood. “It’s a controlled life. I couldn’t play with anybody. I couldn’t just play with Tom, Dick, and Harry.”
She tells Variety that her parents were very strict and she could only play with certain children.
At that time, she says, her dad was also a businessman. She says she and her siblings are among the first on Guam to get the latest toys. “We are the first ones to get them.”
She has no favorite toy but she admits if there’s a toy she doesn’t like she gives it away.
Asked what’s the most important value she learned while growing up, she tells Variety, “You have to respect. You have to respect each other and learn how to work around the house and take care of yourself by helping each other.”
For Tan Fe, she has a comfortable life on Guam.
In spite of these comforts, she says they were taught to do a little bit of everything.
“We also grew up on a farm. We had a farm. We were raising chickens, birds, ducks, pigs, and we had some kind of vegetable farm,” she says.
On weekends, Tan Fe says the siblings were taught to help pick some fruits, take care of the chickens, pick up eggs, among other chores.
She says they own the Herman Ada Store, more like the Joeten Store at the time on Guam, selling washing machines, refrigerators, grocery items, among other things.
Tan Fe says this was the kind of life she left when she decided she would marry Tun Frank and there were no regrets.
In the beginning, Tan Fe says her parents were worried over how she would cope living on her own on Saipan knowing she had everything on Guam.
She tells them frankly, “I am not marrying his family; I am marrying Frank.”
Trusting she made the right decision, her parents consented to her marriage to Frank and the two exchanged wedding vows on April 8, 1961.
Coming back to Saipan with Frank, she was on her own.
“I don’t even know how to wash. I don’t even know how to cook. And he is there,” says Tan Fe telling Variety that her husband helped her with the household chores.
“When we got married, he joined the military service and we had a wonderful life,” she says.
She also admits that like any other couple, they also have their own ups and downs.
The hard part, she says, was being alone to handle it all with Frank on deployment. But she managed.
During those long months that her husband was away, Tan Fe says she also taught her children to be independent.
She says she remembers how she would prepare their meals in advance.
While working at the military exchange, she says, she would check on her kids every hour on the hour.
Moreover, Tun Frank says the day he exchanged “I do!” with his wife, he vowed to stay committed to her.
When he joined the military, he says, he promised himself he would discharge his duties and know his responsibilities. “If I had to die, so be it. But I have to have something for my family — security.”
And he was fortunate. He rose through the ranks and reached the rank of Sergeant Major after 18 years in service.
He says he also served in the special forces —Green Beret—and he was also deployed to Vietnam jumping behind enemy lines.
While deployed, Tun Frank says he never leaves the family empty handed.
“I never left the family without anything,” says Tun Frank who believes he has been a good provider for his family.
Meanwhile, on the home front while he’s on deployment, Tan Fe has her hands full taking care of the children and working at the military exchange.
Like any other Army wife, she is the center of the family’s gravity — she pulls the family together at the time when her husband is on deployment.
She’s the family’s unsung heroine facing the challenges at home and at work all on her own in the absence of her husband who is out serving his nation.
But while both face their own personal battles, it is the greater good of the family that they both strove to achieve.
They raised three biological and two adopted children.
During the times that she was alone, Tan Fe says she has to be strong for the family. “I didn’t want to depend on my parents. If others could do it, I could do it.”
She worked for the military exchange store for 18 years and is now looking forward to leaving her post as supervisor of the in-patient department of the Commonwealth Health Center after 20 years.
In the vicissitudes of 50 years, Tun Frank and Tan Fe both share the values of respect, honesty, and commitment.
Young though they were when they got married, both tried their best to fill the shoes of responsible adults.
Now, both are looking forward to reading the newspapers and reciting a prayer together and spending quality time together.
Sharing the same values, Tun Frank and Tan Fe are truly two peas in a pod. It’s no wonder they have been enjoying a blissful 50 years of married life that’s founded on mutual “respetu.”
[Spice is the section of Marianas Variety devoted to people with interesting stories and events that matter. For suggestions, email avz@mvariety.com ]
