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"Daddy read his bible
a lot,"
said Susan Kirk and at the end, before he died (1998), James King
Taitano Gay not only read the Chamorro-English Bible, he spoke Chamorro
aloud to himself and to Susan at times so that he wouldn't forget the
language. "He'd speak Chamorro to himself or to me even though he'd
have to translate it later just so that he wouldn't forget how to speak
it," says Susan.
James King spent a lot of time
with the bible his mother gave him, and according to his daughter, he
treated it like a real treasure, "a gem," she said, "It meant a lot to
him being that it belonged to his mom."
Susan said
regarding the preservation of her family's bible, "I just know that
unless I do this, one day this bible will be thrown away - my kids
don't speak Chamorro and they probably won't, so giving it to MARC to
be with all the other items of that period would be the best thing to
do and I know that would also please my grandmother."
I knew my dad had it for years. I
remember going in, even before we left Guam and he had - that was one
of the things he had from his mother that was so precious to him. And,
he kept it in a plastic zip lock bag when they came about, and it’s
just begun to disintegrate, you know. The cover is all gone. It’s just,
just gone to powder like.
But, I’ve tried to – after he passed
away I got it because Guam is always going to be in my heart and soul.
And, I have kept it. And, I knew, that because my kids did not grow up
out there, that it wasn’t going to mean anything to them either and I
just feel like this is the best place for it to be.
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Daddy & Mama
Anna San Nicolas
Taitano Gay and her son James King Gay held the Chamorro Bible seen
above in their hands, read it for many hours and kept it safe for their
entire lives.
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