Ann Githere holds a copy of her book, “Grandma’s Excited to Write a Book.” (HCH photo | Patrick Downes)
Blessed with a rewarding, accomplished life, Ann Githere decided to record it for posterity
By Patrick Downes
Hawaii Catholic Herald
She is a person who, when told, “You should write a book,” actually did.
Ann Piilani Mendiola Githere has had a rewarding, accomplished, blessed life. So three years ago, at age 77, she decided to write about it.
The title of her work, “Grandma’s Excited to Write a Book!” pretty much tells it all. That excitement shows through on nearly every page.
Several threads run through the book’s contents: an unabashed love of family, a deep affection for friends, a cheerful self-confidence, an enduring optimism, and a recognition of the presence of God every step along the way.
This story, condensed, is about a hapa-Hawaiian girl from a musical family who became a teacher, a nun, a missionary, a married woman, a mother and grandmother, and now a book author.
“My decision was made at 2:30 a.m. on September 5, 2017,” Githere writes in her preface. “For some reason I was awake early that morning, thinking about occasions in my life that I remember with great happiness.”
Only a book would do.
“Get ready, everybody,” Githere tells her readers. “Here I go!”
And in that eager spirit, she’s off.
The book is one long, cozy conversation, at times poignant and reflective, occasionally rambling. She takes linguistic liberties, like directly addressing the reader or characters in her story (“Thank you, Dad.” “It’s just me, grandma.”), or correcting herself, or breaking chronological order. The effect charms rather than distracts.
Githere, an English teacher for 60 years, is gifted with an amazing memory for names, places, details and events, considering this is a nearly eight-decade tale.
She talks about how her mother, Ella Wittrock, a descendent of Danish immigrants, fell for her father, John Mendiola, a “knockout” in his Royal Hawaiian Band uniform. She recalls her childhood summers on Kauai with her Protestant minister grandfather and growing up on Center Street in Kaimuki.
Her early recollections include stories of the beloved Marist Fathers and Brothers and Notre Dame Sisters of Star of the Sea Church and School, and events like the school luau.
Attracted by the joyful presence of her teachers, the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, she joins them. She shows you life behind convent walls with anecdotes about giggling novices. Amazingly, she remembers the names of all 20 women in her novitiate class.
Githere takes you into the classroom as a grade-school teacher in California and Hawaii. She tells about her and other sisters having to get special permission to go swimming in Hawaii at a private beach, which meant driving to Sears to get swimming suits, “which should be black,” her superior warned.
She recounts her assignment “to the ends of the earth” as a missionary sister in Africa during a time of violent political upheaval, and flat tires on the road to Nairobi.
As a schoolteacher in Kenya, she met filmmaker Gilbert Githere, of whom she found herself having feelings “totally unfamiliar.”
“While I was in Nairobi, God presented me with some disturbing possibilities,” she writes. “Now after 20 years of faithful service was he steering me in another direction?”
Puzzlement led to prayer and discernment and a new clarity, followed by wedding bells and the married life in Kenya.
And baby Bella made three.
The book continues with the family’s relocation to Hawaii and Ann’s return to employment at Star of the Sea School as a teacher and librarian, the maturing of daughter Bella and the ultimate arrival of grandchild Isabella, affectionately called Izzy.
And life goes on, described with care and affection. There are sad moments like the death of her parents and her developmentally handicapped brother John, and fun experiences at school, travels to the mainland and getting her hair dyed red.
She closes with a sampler of “wonders” — stories of assorted blessings — and the hint of more (books?) to come.
The text is broken up by pages of color photos, crowded together like in family albums, putting faces to all the characters you have been reading about. And there are lots. (If everybody whose name is in this book bought one, the book would be a best seller.)
Githere’s book ends with some advice about writing: “I feeling like starting my next book, and I really would encourage all seniors to join me. Start writing a book! Start telling our story! Start anywhere, just start! Say something silly. Say something smart. Just start! Write a poem. Write a spooky story. Write about your favorite colors, your favorite flowers, your favorite fruits. Just write! Write about all the things that make you feel good. Are these the things that can change your sad days to happy ones? Think joyful thoughts. Now write about them! Best wishes to you on the most exciting, new start of your life!”
“Grandma’s Excited to Write a Book: Seventy-Seven is a Fine Age to Write a Book” is published by Christian Faith Publishing. It is available on Amazon.com and at Barnes and Nobel. Ann Githere will also be selling and signing her book after Masses the weekend of Feb. 22-23 at her parish, St. John Apostle and Evangelist in Mililani.
