Viliamu : Saleimoa Rugby Champion

Hi Dear Family,

I was connecting to someone from Sale'imoa on FaceBook and found this picture of brother Viliamu on his pictures. Viliamu's youthful and handsome face brought me tears as I thought of his time with us on this earth. He has done so much tautuaga to our parents and family that I will never forget him. From raising a family in a plantation to support our family to running the first family car that always seem to have problems, his help to the family and even to the kids with no homes in Wellington is a testament to his true heart.

Just one story about brother Viliamu:

When we first settled in Lotopa, we had a fale Samoa and most of the land was covered with tall trees. It was eerie dark when the sun disappeared. I still remembered one night when we just finished our dinner. The only people I could remember at the time was mom, dad, Lagi and me. There may have been others but it's been so long. We had just moved from grandpa Toalepai's in Lalovavea.

The only light we had was a moli tu, a small kerosene lamp with a glass that helps the light to shine further out. Although it was not that bright, but it was all we had.

I remember Viliamu was about two or so years old and he was running back and forth in the house. Then at one time, he ran and fell right over the kerosene lamp. He screamed in much pain. He had a real serious burn on his stomach. But I also remembered the scream of our mom that echoed throughout the night in the area. Thank God that mom had the 'Taulasea' gift from his mom, Lavalea and was able calm down Viliamu's pain. It took a while to sooth his pain on that fateful night. If you've seen and remember that huge scar on his stomach, that was from the moli kalasini on that unforgettable night.

Until we meet again, our love and affection will never fade for you brother Viliamu. Your humility, love of family and being another comedian in the family will never be forgotten.

Families are Forever,

Savea

(Click on pic to make it larger)

Happy Birthday Noa!

Happy birthday Noa!  We all wish you a wonderful birthday and hope you are getting spoilt rotten by Bryan, Angel and Ari today.  May Heavenly Father continue to bless your life! 
We love you!

Intro - Moana

I am Moana Folau Partsch.  I am Fiti's oldest daughter (19 at the moment) and have one son, Kobe Joseph LeBlanc, who is about 8 months old as of this writing.  I love going to the beach with my family and enjoy spending time with my friends.  Hope to see everyone at the family reunion in the future.

 

I don't know how many of you have had the absolute PLEASURE of having a BBQ made by Fiti.  If you have, then you will know exactly what I'm talking about.  If you haven't, then I feel sad for you (hehehe).  His yummy BBQ's are so delicious, you definitely want to make sure you have leftovers for later. 

Luckily for all of us, he has shared his wonderful recipe with our whole family....

Fiti's Teriyaki Chicken Recipe

For use with about 10 lbs (about 4 1/2 kilos) of chicken (or beef)

MARINADE RECIPE

Ingredients -

 
1 whole 16 oz Kikkoman Soy Sauce bottle
2 cups Dark Brown Sugar
1/2 cup crushed Garlic
1/2 cup crushed Ginger
1 whole chopped Onion
1 bundle of chopped Green Onions
2 Tablespoons of Sesame Oil

Directions -

Mix all marinade ingredients then add chicken to marinate overnight or at least 6 - 8 hours prior to bbq.


Thanks Fiti for sharing this delicious recipe with us!

Intro - Savea

Talofa dear family,

This is Savea Samuelu D. Partsch, one of the youngest guys in the family plot, I mean family lot. Lol.  Actually I am the oldest of the 10 of us.  And for the sake of the young ‘generators’ here’s the list of the fab 10:

1.      Savea Samuelu D.

2.      Saito’atasi

3.      Aimeamiti

4.      La’ulu Lagi

5.      Viliamu

6.      Leapaga Karl Jr

7.      Oscar

8.      Fiti

9.      Fa’apoaifoto

10.  Masuisui Sam Jr

We also have Faena Fu’ameleke Forsythe, Rita and others but I’ll address that later.

I am married to Vaveao Dawn Elizabeth Moe whose mother, Bridget Althea Shanti Ensell Moe or Nani for short  is of Indian, Irish and British ancestry.  Vave’s dad, Tauivi Nobert Moe, was one of the first Samoans to tour and performed Polynesian music and dance all over Asia and Europe in the early 1900’s.  For our family history, Vave’s uncle Aupiu Savea Moe was a branch president in Saleimoa way before our mom and dad joined the LDS church. But Uncle Leota Aimeamiti Tilialo Luatua was a member at the time. 

We have 7 chidlren:

1.      Sinalanimaka Tusifolau

2.      Peninatutasiolelagi Vailima

3.      Tusimailelagi Faustine

4.      Peleoali’ilagi Shanti

5.      Lealoali’ifiliilagi Helaman

6.      Viliamutuilagi Joseph

7.      Tanielutuilagi Ioane 
 

Of our 6 grand children, Sinalanimaka and John Maiava have 3 children:

1.      Le Tausalaoletuto’atasi

2.      Saito’atasi

3.      Lale

Penina and Lomb Luanghane:

1.      Mata’utoasavanh

Pele and Michael Bennett:

1.      Kenese Peyton

2.      Blake Sinalani

Our whole family is growing and multiplying in numbers all over this world. Let's never forget the sacrifice our parents, Tusifolau and Fautuaali'i did for us in Samoa.  I’m looking forward to the day when I get to see you all.  Let’s continue to pray for each other and the day when we’ll all meet again.

Alofa tele mo outua uma,

Uncle Savea

PS. Missing in the pictures are my son Lealo who's in school in Utah and Tusi who's living in Hawaii.

 

Happy Birthday Oscar

Today would have been Oscar's 51st birthday.  In celebration of that, some of his children have some beautiful things to say. 

Poem by Edward -

 

Birthday in Heaven

You would have turned 51 today,

if you were still here.

Although you are so far away,

our hearts have kept you near.

The pain has eased a bit I guess,

yet has not gone away.

It will always stay a part of us,

until we join you one day.

We send our love to you,

from all our hearts to yours.

Just think, a birthday spent in Heaven,

means you'll spend it with The Lord.

Sweet thoughts from Jay -

"En route home and it's one of those days where you can't figure out whether it's good or not. It's the 24 of May and today would have marked my dads 51st birthday. I lost dad 4 years ago to a heart surgery gone wrong. But I dint lose him completely. He's still vey much with me in everything I do. Like a comedic conscience that's always giving me life lessons through humor. For example right now I'm on the train making my way home and I just got fined for trying to buy a ticket on the wrong side of the gates. You try to do the right thing and buy a ticket for a train service that never on time, and you get no compassion. These metro people are stupid. If my dad was here he'd either run like a crazy man or talk to the ticketing people til eventually they became friends and they'd forget why he was even there in the first place. Dad was pretty cool like that. He was very much a people person. I guess what he taught me in life, even if he didn't actually teach me intentionally is that there are more important things in life than to be bitter and upset. No matter how great or small the issue may be try to think about the better things that make you happy. Here's to everyone who's lost their dad, and miss them very much. Just remember they'll always be near :)"

Message from Savea -

Ia Manuia lou Aso Fanau Uso!
First I want to thank our Father in Heaven for the many blessing for all of us. Yes, many of us are still struggling during this economical slide. But there are many more out there who don't have what we have. Let's be grateful for what we have at this time.
As for brother Oscar, I'm getting emotional as I'm trying to think of his time with us on this earth. No matter how much we understand the purpose of life, no matter how much we are grateful for the Plan of Salvation, the memories of our loved ones will continue to live with us. Brother Oscar was not as fortunate as some of us. He had a heart problem and other health issues and I still remember when he was about 5 or 6 years old during some of our dinners. Dad made a nice dinner table for us and sometimes during dinner, Oscar would eat and fell off to sleep right on the dinner table. Us kids would laugh but little did we know that was the first sign of his health problem.
At the end of 1975, 9 years since I left Samoa after serving a mission for the CCH/BYU-Hawaii, I went back home to find Oscar staying at the Moto'otua Hospital. In spite of his health struggles, he always had that infectious smiling face. He was a very handsome guy too.
As we all witnessed, Oscar lived a lot longer than some people thought. He even got married to a caring, loving and understanding wife Olevia and was blessed with several beautiful children. I bear witness that God had a plan for each of us. God has a plan for brother Oscar. He didn't die in vain. It was his time to leave us. And we'll see him again with that beautiful smile.
Brother Oscar, I'm grateful for being a brother to you in this life and in the life to come. We all love you. You have children on earth to carry your name and a wife that was at your side through the ups and downs of life.

Happy Birthday Brother.



Oscar, we are sure that you are having a great time making everybody laugh in Heaven.  We love you and thank you for the memories.  Your jokes and laughter will always stay a part of our memories.  We love you!

Maggie and Frank Partsch

So recently this picture was added by a family member on Facebook.  I think we were all intrigued to actually see our Grandparents/Great grandparents Maggie and Frank Partsch.  Does anyone have any stories about them that you would like to share with the rest of the family?  I know a few of us would love to know a little bit more about them.  If you would like to share any information you may have please click on the 'Comment' section below to share.

UPDATE - This gentleman in the picture is not Frank Partsch.  It is Fred Betham, Christina's husband.

(Left to right - Fred Betham, Maggie Silva, Mele (Mary) Silva, Christina Betham)

Update - Sina

Congratulations to Sina and Ritche on the birth of their baby boy.  

They named him Maia Mark Green.

He was born on Tues 10th May @ 5.30pm and is a big healthy baby weighing in at 8lbs 8oz.  Both Mum and baby are doing well.

Congrats again you guys!  Welcome to the world Maia!

Intro - Sina

Hello Everyone!

My name is Sina, I am the third daughter (before Yanah after Katie) of Lagi Partsch- daughter of Karl & Tusi Partsch.  I am 26 years old and live in the south island of New Zealand with my boyfriend Richie, dog and cat. We both work in the wine industry.  I move in between working in a vineyard and winery- starting from the young vine to the finished product in the bottle and Richie works as winemaker for a family owned estate called Wairau river wines. Great jobs- if you like rural life and wine of course!  We are hoping to move more into the country, to have our own orchard and to make our own Cider and Wine. We love fishing, going to the river or beach and going on road trips.

I'm not working at the moment because I am 41 weeks pregnant- good excuse huh?   This will be our first kid, we are rather excited. It will be Mums fifth grandchild and my dads parents will be great-grandparents.  Maybe by the time you read this I will have had the baby. Very exciting stuff.

Had a great ol time growing up with the cousins and family and was lucky enough to live next door to Grandma & Pa, Oscar, Lani, Uncle Karl and Aunty Nikki. Uncle Oscar and Villiamu were never far away either. To all of Oscars children- your dad was HILLARIOUS!! and soooo loveable, what a great man. For Epi, Eddie and Tusi- Uncle Villiamu was also a comedian, an AMAZING family man and always made sure everyone was okay. I wasn't old enough to clearly remember Aunty Sa but from what I have heard she was pretty cool and is dearly missed.

My memories of Grandma was that she was very cuddly, smiley, great at playing Suipi, helped lots of people in the community with her magical fofo and before I went off to school would always reach under the mattress to give me a coin- even if it was only 20c. She was the best and so so caring. My memories of Grandpa was that he was strong, he was the security, he made sure everyone was okay and he loved the T.A.B. Someone once said that the T.A.B in Newtown kept him alive longer because in order to get there he had to go up and down a steep hill! He HAD to exercise if wanted to play. They both were great and loved Lani and Oscar heeeappppsss!!!!

So I think it would be O-wesome (with a capital O of course) if more of us could catch up, although it's not so easy with everyone everywhere and everything being so expensive!  But if any of the family from the states or elsewhere, even the ones we don't really know well, want to visit NZ they will always have a place to rest their head and a plate of hot food waiting for them!! Maybe even a cheeky glass of wine.

Well take care all, Love yas and catch up soon!!
xxx

 P.S  -  If you get a strong white streak of hair instead of grey hair all over remember it's from Grandma!

Happy Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day to all the beautiful, strong, wonderful Mothers in our family.  We are all very grateful for each of you and all that you do for our family.  We hope that you get treated like a queen not only on Mothers Day but every other day too!

I especially want to remember the Mother of our family, Tusifolau who was a wonderful example of a woman of love, faith and service.  Gone but never forgotten.  We miss you Mum/Grandma!

 Have a happy Mothers Day!