When I heard about a story five minutes from my house in Yigo, I thought it would be a quick assignment. But the story grew, as stories do.
In the search for background on Yigo – particularly for our off-island readers, I discovered a lot about where I live and my village’s place in the scheme of things.
I also found as I searched for data on Yigo just how many of the facts and figures in Guam are out of date, or missing.
One of the pluses about doing business in Guam (and all the islands) is that businesspeople are easy to reach and generous in sharing time and knowledge with the Journal. My Yigo story grew further.
A lot of Yigo residents walk regularly. Many walkers miss the opportunity to walk the road to the Andersen “Andy” South housing as in years gone by. Andy South is now the Urban Training Complex site for the military buildup. And Yigo hosts the Raceway Park on Route 15, which served our island so well. Lease negotiations are still dragging on between the Chamorro Land Trust Commission and the Guam Motorsports Association.
And now some words about one of my neighbors. Bob Klitzkie — who passed away on April 1 — was a long-time resident of Perez Acres and he and his wife Lou lived in our street before my husband and I moved in. The Klitzkie’s daughter — Michelle and her husband Felix live across our courtyard. Michelle’s kids (Bob’s grandkids) and our son were in and out of each other’s houses as they grew up. Of course, we got on borrowing terms from each other’s pantries and have helped each other through the years, as neighbors do. And I would see Bob and Lou, including out exercising along Marine Drive.
If you knew Bob, you’d know he had firm views. He was a conservative Republican, and I am a liberal-leaning journalist. We agreed to disagree and left it there, as good neighbors should. But we would talk about the media landscape, and issues that didn’t divide us.
Bob cared about his island, his village, Perez Acres, his neighbors and his family. What I remember is the weeks without power after Typhoon Pongsona hit Guam on Dec. 8, 2002.
The houses were hot, and our fridges were full. Ice for coolers was hard to come by. The Klitzkies and the Maratitas pooled resources. We had a tarp in the courtyard, set up outside and ate dinner together. Pretty soon we were joined by the single military residents from our side of Perez Acres bearing contributions. Carlos, an air traffic controller at Andersen, lived in our courtyard. Bob was a cordial courtyard host to those military personnel, and for years afterwards he would talk about the only benefit of Pongsona – the nightly meals and the neighborliness. Carlos wrote to us when he left Guam, when his career developed, and when he married. I know he remembers that time of neighborliness more than the typhoon. So do I. mbj
— Maureen N. Maratita is the publisher at Glimpses Media. Glimpses Media includes the Marianas Business Journal, Guam Business Magazine, The Guam Guide, Wave 105.1 FM, Power98 and Route99.