Maria Mercedes Javier Ojeda Hoover
(1916-1992)
Maria Mercedes Javier Ojeda was the daughter of Pedro Castro Ojeda and Rosalia Garrido Javier. Since she was 17 and prior to leaving Guam she was a teacher.
She was known as Mariquita, and her engagement to Thomas G. Hoover a Radioman 1st Class made local and national news in the late 1936 and early 1937.
Locally, one full page in the January 1937 Guam Recorder was used and captioned with "Of Local Interest: Miss Mariquita Ojeda Wed in Cumberland, Maryland." The local article highlighted the several national news media that caught wind of her engagement and her journey from Guam to Maryland to marry her fiancé.
Nationally, her story was featured in the Chicago Herald and Examiner, Chicago Daily Tribune, Seattle Times and The Seattle Daily Times.
This picture of her on the left comes from the front page of The Seattle Daily Times (1936), where the headline read "Maiden from Lonely Guam Comes to Wed." According to the article she was "Queen of the Fair." This fair was actually known as the Guam Agricultural, Industrial and Education Fair, where Mariquita was Queen of Agana and was the runner up in her bid for overall Queen of the Fair that was won by Josefina Sgambelluri in May of 1936.
Not too long after the Fair, her fiancé, Thomas was reassigned from Guam to Washington D.C.
In reviewing James Shaw's website USMC Present Arms, many old photos of Guam, the Fair and other events can be found. This included a couple photos of Mariquita where they knew her as "Keets."
From previous editions of The Guam Recorder, I found that Mariquita, was the Secretary, Lone Star Association, a literary organization of the junior and senior high school students . (Oct 1935). She was also one of the attendants for Queen Harriet Chance during the 1934 Guam Agricultural, Industrial, and Educational Fair.
In the 1940 Census, she was residing in Kaneohe, Oahu, Hawaii.
Several years later, Mariquita was listed with her four month old daughter Susan on a 1948 Pan American Airways passenger manifest destined back home to Guam. Her residence at the time was listed as Ebensburg, PA.
Sources:
California. California Death Index, 1940-1997. Sacramento, CA, USA: State of California Department of Health Services, Center for Health Statistics.
Census Bureau. Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1940. T627, 4,643 rolls.
Guam Recorder. June 1934.
Guam Recorder. October 1935.
Guam Recorder. January 1937.
The Seattle Daily Times. October 1, 1936. Maiden from Lonely Guam Comes to Wed. Seattle, WA.
James Shaw. Present Arms. Retrieved from: http://www.usmcpresentarms.com
This picture of her comes from the front page of The Seattle Daily Times (1936), where the headline read “Maiden from Lonely Guam Comes to Wed.” According to the article she was “Queen of the Fair.” This fair was actually known as the Guam Agricultural, Industrial and Education Fair, where Mariquita was Queen of Agana and was the runner up in her bid for overall Queen of the Fair that was won by Josefina Sgambelluri in May of 1936.
