Mary Jane Hodges-Vance, Oral History

Creator

Mary Jane Hodges-Vance
Glenn Gainer

Files

Streaming Media

Date

2007-05-25

Description

This is a video recording of an oral history interview with Mary Jane Rita Hodges-Vance. It was conducted on May 25, 2007. The interviewer is Glenn Gainer.

In this interview, Mary Jane Rita Hodges-Vance discusses what life was like in the Philippines under Japanese occupation during World War II.

Mary Jane Vance was born on May 22, 1934 in Manilla, Philippines. Her father was Jesse Allen Hodges and her mother was Marie Angeles Gamero Hodges. She was one of nine children.

Japan invaded the Philippines in December 1941. Hodges-Vance was seven years old and in her third grade classroom when the attack occurred. She and her siblings were dismissed from school and they walked eight miles home.

Hodges-Vance's father was imprisoned at an internment camp. Hodges-Vance and her siblings were allowed to live at home with their mother, but they had to speak Spanish and Tagalog in order to avoid being imprisoned. She recalls visiting her father in prison, but notes that as the war continued families were no longer allowed to visit the prisoners. Their family did not see her father for more than a year.

Following the liberation of the Philippines from Japanese occupation, Hodges-Vance and her family emigrated to Quinlan, Texas. There, her grandfather had left her father a plot of land. Hodges-Vance graduated from high school as Valedictorian. In 1976 she received her doctorate from East Texas State University. She went on to have a career as an educator.

Type

Moving Image

Format

mp4

Language

eng

Department

Special Collections and University Archives

Identifier

2008-032_OH_00860_interview

Recommended Citation

Hodges-Vance, Mary Jane and Gainer, Glenn, "Mary Jane Hodges-Vance, Oral History" (2007-05-25). All Oral Histories. 5.
https://digitalcommons.tamuc.edu/scua-oral-history-all/5