Anna Liza “Leesa” Damo Bautista Casabay
Lucy Peros | Photos courtesy the Casabay ‘Ohana
Many people, including Donna Wilk Cardillo, an RN and well-known inspirational speaker, say nurses are the heart of healthcare. Author and speaker Carrie Latet also says a nurse will always give us hope, an angel with a stethoscope. Warren Beatty, an American actor, producer, and writer, humorously said, “Nobody hates nurses. The only time you hate a nurse is when they’re giving you an enema.”
This month’s Sakada Offspring is all the above because Anna Liza “Leesa” Damo Bautista Casabay is a veteran nurse of thirty-two years. Her family, close friends and relatives fondly call her Leesa. She was born in Wailuku, Maui, in April 1971. She attended Doris Todd Christian Day School, Christ The King Elementary School, Kahului Elementary School, Maui High School, and the University of Hawai‘i Maui College. She received an Associate Degree in Science, Nursing. She started working at Kula Hospital in 1993. She works as a Registered Staff Nurse.
Besides being a nurse, she also volunteers at Kala Iki Thrift Store at the Kula Hospital Auxiliary.
Leesa is very busy working as a nurse, and she does not have much extra time to do other things except spending quality time with her family and friends whenever she has a day off. She very often works on the graveyard shifts at Kula Hospital.
Leesa is married to her husband, Ernesto Casabay, Jr. He works at the Bay Villas in Kapalua as a landscaper. He has been working there for the past nineteen years.
Leesa and Ernesto have two children, Anissa and Ian. Anissa holds a degree in Business Administration and received her Master’s Degree from Grand Canyon University. She is presently working at Maui Waena Intermediate School as an after-school Media Teacher.
Ian is currently enrolled at the University of Hawai‘i Maui College. He is an office assistant at Akamai Behavior Analysis. Ian is taking classes to be a lab technician. He is also part of the University of Hawai‘i Maui College Biomedical Research Team. He plans to study radiology. Both Anissa and Ian are active members of the youth ministry at Christ The King Catholic Church.
Leesa is the only child of the late Sakada, Felix Reyes Bautista, and Guadalupe “Oping” Damo Bautista. To seek a better life was what most if not all, the Sakadas were aiming for when they signed as recruits to come to Hawai‘i to work in the sugar and pineapple plantations. Felix Reyes Bautista was one of those earlier Sakadas who came to Hawai‘i in 1927. They are often called the “Old Timers” because they came before the influx of the 6,000 Sakadas who came in 1946.
Though it was hard to leave his family at the young age of twenty, he was determined to find a better future for himself and his family. Felix was born in Badoc, Ilocos Norte on May 3, 1907.
Felix Bautista at first worked in one of the plantations on O‘ahu. He did not stay there very long because he transferred to work at Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. on Maui. He was assigned to work in the field to plant sugar cane stalks (pula-pula). Then he was assigned to work in the Paia Mill to do odds and ends wherever he was needed. He was then living in Skill Village in Paia where many different ethnic groups resided besides the Filipinos. It was a very close-knit community where they looked out for each other, babysat for each other and where doors were never locked. It was one big family where they shared their vegetables, cooked foods (padigo), etc. The children played wonderfully together.
In fact, close by was the iconic Nashiwa Bakery and a Barber Shop. The Holy Rosary Catholic Church was also nearby. The Paia Filipino Clubhouse, located at the Orpheum Village, was a center of fun, parties and festivities. Practically every weekend, some kind of activity was held there like baptisms, weddings, birthdays and even social functions like Rizal Day celebrations. It was a place where one gets to meet people whom they have not seen for a long time. Just slaughtering the animals to be used and cooking them for the events was another social gathering in themselves.
Unfortunately, Felix got sick while working at the Paia Mill. There was a couple who took him in in their home, the late Susano and Balbina Domion whom he did not know at that time that they were to become his future brother and sister-in-law. What fate! Felix received his disability retirement.
At age 62 in 1969, Felix decided to go back to the Philippines to visit the pen pal whom he had been corresponding with. This pen pal of his was a student nurse. Well, they did meet. At the same time, Susano and Balbina Domion sent a care package and monetary gift with Felix to give to their sister, Guadalupe Damo.
Felix diligently went to find Guadalupe so he could deliver the gifts. As they met, there was an automatic attraction between them. Felix was so attracted to Guadalupe he did not hesitate to go to her mother to ask for her hand in marriage. Being a wise mother, she told him to talk to Guadalupe himself. He was so in love with Guadalupe that again, he did not hesitate and bravely asked her for her hand in marriage. Guadalupe also had dreams of her own, to come to Hawai‘i to find a better life and for her family, despite their age differences, she at 22 and he at 62. She accepted his proposal. Felix had only a month more to go before coming back to Hawai‘i. As they say in Filipino, isu da ti nagkagasat, they were meant for each other. Felix and Guadalupe got married in June 1969. “I learned to love him. He was a good man and a good father,” Guadalupe said.
Guadalupe followed Felix to Hawai‘i on November 29, 1969. They lived in Skill Village in Paia for eight years until Hurricane Iwa destroyed their home. They were then relocated to Spanish B in Pu‘unēnē. They lived there for just a couple of months before moving to their beautiful home in Kahului. Felix passed away on October 13, 1992 at age 85.
Guadalupe has vivid memories of living in Pā‘ia with Felix. She mentions they shopped at the Pā‘ia Mercantile Store to buy their groceries, and the employees even delivered their one-hundred-pound bag of rice to their home for free. Haleakalā Dairy even delivered their milk in bottles, placing them by their porch every early morning and picking up the empty ones at the same time. Guadalupe remembers going to the movies at the Pā‘ia Theater which was next to the Ikeda’s Store where she once worked. For fresh fish, they shopped at Bersamin’s Fish Market. “We raised our pigs and chickens. We slaughtered them too without any problems. Those were the good old days,” reminisces Guadalupe.
Guadalupe worked at Maui Pine for a few months before going to work at Ikeda’s Store. She worked there until she gave birth to her only child, Leesa, in 1971. She also worked at the Aloha Restaurant Lū‘au House” which was located across the Kahului Post Office, where Starbuck’s is today. Many Filipino functions were held at the Aloha Restaurant including Filipino Catholic Club Convention Lū‘au. Then she moved to work at Ah Fook’s Supermarket at the Old Kahului Shopping Center in 1978 until it unfortunately burnt down in 2005.
Guadalupe’s advice to young people is to finish their education in order to get a good paying job and stay out of trouble. Her advice to her contemporaries is to enjoy life, see different places when you can still walk, exercise, go walking daily and join some Senior Citizens group for fellowship and fun.
Guadalupe is well traveled. She has been to South America on a cruise, toured Europe, Southeast Asia, and back and forth to the Philippines and other places. She is an active member of Christ The King Catholic Church in which she serves in some ministries.
Leesa shared this about her father: My Dad was a simple and patient person yet loved to tell stories about his life and experiences. He shared his stories about when he was young before coming to Hawai‘i. He said that he used to raise horses. When he came to Hawai‘i, he shared his experiences working at HC&S When I was young, he was already retired, and he was the one who stayed at home with me and my cousins. He would walk us to school and pick us up, too. He would take us to the mill and get soda from the vending machine. He would walk with us to Pā‘ia town to buy snacks. A good part of my childhood memories of my Dad were when we lived in Pā‘ia next to the mill. He taught me how to cook rice on the stove!
Lucy Peros is a retired schoolteacher, having taught at St. Anthony Grade School and Waihe‘e Elementary School. Her late parents, Elpidio Cachero Cabalo (a 1946 Sakada) and Alejandra Cabudoy Cabalo both worked for Maui Land and Pine Company. Lucy enjoys being with other retirees in the Enhance Fitness Program under the Department of Aging three times a week. Whenever she can, she joins other Waihe‘e School retirees when help is needed at the school. Lucy also devotes some of her time as Lector and choir member at both Christ The King Catholic Church in Kahului and St. Ann Catholic Church in Waihe‘e. She enjoys being with her granddaughters after school. She also enjoys writing, reading and gardening in her spare time.