Christmas on a tropical island

I have many happy memories about living on a tropical island, especially when it was Christmastime. For two years we lived on the little Pacific island of Guam. That was in 1964 and 1965 while the Vietnam conflict was still going on. Guam is located at the south end of a group of coral islands called the Marianas about 30 miles long and four to 10 miles wide. Coconut groves and the beautiful mountains were surrounded by the warm ocean water.

The weather was always warm there so it seemed like there would never be a cold Christmas Day. The normal temperature is from 72 to 88 degrees and the average yearly rainfall is about 90 inches. Can you imagine getting 90 inches of rainfall here in Fish Springs? It was certainly wet there in Guam, but never cold. The biggest problem was the typhoons. These violent tropical storms hit us several times while we lived there and we had lots of heavy rain for Christmas, but never any snow.

My husband's squadron was stationed there while he was in the Navy and luckily, our three little girls and I also got to live there along with him. One Christmas Eve we decided to go to church at the little village called Dedido. It was a funny coincident when we discovered that the Catholic priest there was my cousin. Father Raymond Demers was a most interesting Capuchin missionary priest. On Christmas Eve he walked around to all the little houses and blessed the families. He carried a small statue of baby Jesus and the villagers kissed the feet of the statue.

They gave Father Demers fresh vegetables from their backyard gardens and freshly laid eggs from their chickens. That was a real treat to him because the eggs and vegetables that were shipped there did not taste very good because they were a month old before they arrived by ship to Guam.

Christmas was different on the island of Guam, but it still was a wonderful experience for us and our children. Even though our families lived so far away from us, we had many good friends on Guam that filled in as our military family. We still had a very merry Christmas on this beautiful little island.

To all our friends and family we say, "May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be always at your back, may the sun shine warm upon your face and the rains fall softly on the fields and until we meet again, may God hold you in the hollow of His hand."

n Linda Monohan may be reached at 782-5802.