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Nantucket Lightship
Baskets > The Reyes Lightship Basket from Nantucket |
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The Reyes Lightship Basket
from Nantucket
The early years: the Philippines and WWII
As World War I raged across Europe,
a village in the Philippines gathered around a composed youngster
of modest means, but one whose family had world-class education
ambitions for its eldest son.
His name was Jose Formoso Reyes and he was my paternal grandfather.
He was fourteen and he was on his way, alone, to finish high
school thousands of miles away in
the state of Oregon.
During high school, Jose won scholarships to Reed College in
Portland where he met the love of his life, Mary Elizabeth
(Betty) Ham. The ever-loyal Betty followed
him back to the East Coast so Jose could complete a graduate program in Education
at Harvard University. While he studied, so did she. Betty earned a nursing degree
at Deaconess College of Nursing, a skill she would depend on ten years later.
The young couple married in Boston, then began the arduous
journey all the way back to Philippines where Jose wanted
to teach social studies.
When World War II broke out in the Pacific, life turned to
hell. Jose and Betty had three children by then and all were
severely tested by the war. When the
United States liberated the Philippines from the Japanese in May 1945, the family
was able to get on the first boat out headed for San Francisco. From there, the
impoverished, bedraggled lot boarded a cross-country train bound for Boston with
hopes that Betty's family would take them in.
Arrival on Nantucket
Not only did Betty’s family refuse to take them in, rumor has it that the
proper Bostonians were ashamed that their daughter had married an Asian. The
homeless family was "banished" to Nantucket where they'd be out of
sight, out of mind and far enough away not to make a scene.
The Nantucket of the 1940's little resembled the posh vacation
spot we know today. Work was scarce - especially for someone
who was clearly Asian.
Not long after the family settled into a rental house, Jose
was called back to the Philippines under ambiguous circumstances.
He remained there for two years,
and lived a scandalous life that would come back to haunt the family and raise
eyebrows everywhere.
Back on Nantucket, Betty struggled to care for the three young
children. She worked the night shift as a nurse at the Nantucket
Cottage Hospital and moved
the family every season - as many people still do today – into town in
the winter and out of town in the high summer season.
When Jose reappeared in late 1947, he faced many of the same
difficulties he had dealt with two years earlier. He tried
house painting and odd jobs, but nothing
stuck. He couldn't teach because "there were no positions available."
Desperate to bring in income, he eyed the old lightship baskets
that then were common on Nantucket. He knew how to weave baskets
from his childhood in the Philippines,
so with the help of Mitchy Ray, Jose shook the kinks out his fingers and started
weaving.
Most of the old Lightship Baskets were open, so Jose devised
a lid to cover them
and turned them into women's purses.
The results were instantly popular. Jose hung the baskets on
a tree outside his rental house in 1948 and women snapped them
up at prices that ranged between
$15 and $25. They weren't cheap then and they aren't cheap now!
History was now made.
In the early years, the baskets were simple with copper handle
pegs and plain wood tops. Betty sewed linings into many of
them. As demand from both summer
visitors and locals grew, Jose teamed up with ivory carvers Charlie Sayle and
Aletha Macy. He attached their whale and seagull carvings to the tops. He also
turned ivory pegs for the handles and pins for the front clasps.
And the prices went up and up and up.
Jose's character had plenty to do with the success of his creation.
He was engaging, educated, hard-working, social and spoke several
languages. He became a Mason,
was a regular at Rotary and sang (with perfect pitch!) in the Congregational
Church.
Jose worked nearly to the end of his life. In the summer of
1978, my grandfather, father (Paul Reyes) and I all worked
in the Reyes Basket Shop. My dad's company,
Northwest Airlines, was on strike and my dad loved working with his hands.
To let you in on a very well-kept secret, my dad, Paul Reyes,
is undoubtedly the most talented craftsman of all of us. He
alone has probably made a couple
hundred baskets. If you are lucky enough to own one of them, you will understand
what I mean when you compare his work side by side with any other’s. While
his dad had the fame and glory, he had the gift.
Grandpa had a four-year waiting list at summer’s end
in 1978, the last summer he worked. He died peacefully in his
sleep two years later.
I went back and carried on the Reyes Basket tradition every
summer after that year until I moved to New York City in 1989.
I saw the prices go from $333 for
the average oval to well over $1,000 in the twelve summers I worked there.
The real, ergo, Jose Reyes, baskets now sell for many thousands
of dollars and are recognized the word over by people who've
traveled to Nantucket.
If you're intrigued by this story, please contact me. There's
really no end to the fascinating and scandalous rumors and
half-truths out there, and I'd be happy
to fill you in on some my favorites.
Thanks for your interest. Hope to see you on Nantucket!
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