She was born Patricia Ann Magowan, in Chuquicamata, Chile on November 7, 1920. (I remember seeing those initials on an old suitcase that we kept in the basement.) At the time, her parents, Wilhelmina and William, lived in La Paz, Bolivia, where he was serving as that country's Treasurer. But her mother's doctors felt that the nearly 12 thousand foot elevation in La Paz would make labor too difficult, so my grandmother took the long train down to the coast to give birth to my mom.
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| William and Wilhemina Magowan |
Over the years I have contemplated trying to take advantage of my "Latino" heritage on college and job applications, but the truth is that my grandmother's family came from Germany, and my grandfather's from Northern Ireland. He had initially traveled to South America as an accountant for an American copper-mining company in Chile.
Then, in 1920, my grandfather joined a group of businessmen who backed a Bolivian coup led by Bautista Saavedra Mallea, which resulted in him moving to La Paz to assume the role of state Treasurer, presumably based on his bookkeeping skills. (As remarkable as this achievement was, it might be noted that Bolivia has a long history of coups d'etat, experiencing 193 of them since it achieved independence in 1825.)
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Jimmy Doolitle prior to World War II. |
My mother lived in a government house and attended a private Catholic school in La Paz. Stories from those years are few, but two are notable. The first took place in April 1926. Jimmy Doolittle, the first pilot to fly coast-to-coast across the U.S. and recipient of two Distinguished Service Crosses, visited La Paz on a trip to perform demonstration flights in South America. He took my grandmother up for a thrilling ride in his P-6 Hawk, an open-cockpit fighter bi-plane employed by the U.S. Army Air Corps. My mother recounted the story often.
The second event clearly demonstrates my grandmother's mettle (and shows where my mother got some of her feistiness). It took place in 1925 during a state visit of the Prince of Wales, Edward VIII, to honor Bolivia's Centennial. Apparently, through an impressive lack of good sense on the part of the person in charge of protocol, the ladies were not invited to the state dinner, which was to be men-only. Furious, Wilhelmina, who had gotten suitable dressed up to meet the handsome darling of the British Royal family, went up to her room and fumed.
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Medallion commemorating Edward VIII's visit to Argentina in 1925 |
Following dinner, the young 31 year-old Edward suggested that it might be nice to invite the ladies to share post-prandial cigars and cognac. They were quickly sent for, but my grandmother stood her ground and refused, along with several others. She thus missed out on meeting the future King of England, who would one day abdicate his throne after only 11 months to wed Wallis Simpson, a twice-divorced American. According to my mother, her mother said if she wasn't good enough to eat dinner with the Prince of Wales, then she wouldn't smoke cigars with him either.
In addition to being an excellent student, my mother also became a sports fanatic early on. She learned golf from her father and would often take the train with him to the La Paz Golf Club, the highest in the world at 10,800 feet. On the way, she would sit in his lap as he played poker with the other passengers. Occasionally, they would give her coins. When she got to the club house, she would wait until they teed off, then would go into the men's locker room and go through their pockets for more change. Quite the entrepreneur. (And remarkably forthright as well, to have shared that information later in life.) Following her Artful Dodger activities, she would go out and hit balls on the driving range and practice her putting.
She also played tennis, again encouraged by her father. As she progressed, she was eager to graduate to a adult-sized equipment. Finally, in anticipation of her ninth birthday, her mother took her down to the only sporting goods shop in La Paz, where they purchased the serious tennis racquet that she had been eyeing.
That night, when her father came home from work, she rushed to the door to show him her purchase. Uncharacteristically, he avoided eye contact with his oldest daughter and turned to her mother instead. All he said glumly was that it had to go back to the store.
My mother was crushed and retreated to her room, puzzled at the sudden turn of events. For her, it was a very sad day. But for her father - who foresaw his family's pending financial crisis and return to the States within the year - and for millions of others around the globe - the day was even sadder. Because the date was October 29, 1929, and the New York Stock Market had just crashed.
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