Today our marvelous volunteer Sara uncovered a program and invitation to what appears to be an annual celebration in the Salem community of the death of Dr. Jose Rizal, a Filipino nationalist. The invitation (1982.042.5.13.2), pictured above dates to 1929, when a banquet was held at the Marion Hotel to “honor the thirty-third anniversary of the death of Dr. Jose Protacio Rizal y Mercado the martyred Filipino hero.” The program from the 1924 celebration, held at Waller Hall at Willamette University, includes:
Overture………………..Filipino Orchestra
Invocation………………..Dr. Kirkpatrick
Remarks………………..Toastmaster
Selection………………..Filipino Orchestra
Euology………………..Ponciano Tuano
My Last Thougth………………..Antonio Delfinado
Vocal Solo………………..Miss Fay Sparks
Philippine American Relation………………..S.Zarsadias
Selection………………..Filipino Orchestra
Address………………..Dean Geo. H. Alden
Star Spangled Banner
Filipino National Anthem………………..Filipino Orchestra
Dean George H. Alden was the acting president of Willamette University. There are two Kirkpatrick’s listed in the 1924 City Directory, J.Edwin a carpenter and the Reverend Blaine E. Kirkpatrick pastor of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, the later of whom is probably the individual listed in the program. None of the other presenters on the program are listed in the city directory.
Dr. Jose Rizal. Wikipedia.
In both pieces, the event is held at the end of December, appropriate as December 30th is the day that Rizal was executed and is celebrated in the Philippines as Rizal Day. Rizal’s life and the holiday celebrate the victims of Spanish colonial rule in the Philippines.
Ponciano Tuano is my grandfather. Great to find this!
How cool! Do you know if he lived in Salem at this time? I was trying to figure out if this was a local or state-wide event.