The Aunts and Uncles from the de Chaves side of the family....

These are my aunts. My father's four sisters, the oldest of whom, Deolinda, was 14 years younger than my father. That fact alone placed them almost

Deolinda, Beatriz, Maria José, Liduina

closer to us, the nephews, than with our parents. They were all born in the Island of Santa Maria where they primarily lived during their youth. From time to time one or more of them would visit São Miguel, the bigger island where we lived, and, of course, in those occasions we would walk around and shop the downtown areas, all places where we would inevitably meet many of our school colleagues and other friends. Invariably, my brother and I would be asked who were the gorgeous "chicks" we were with and I would hurry to explain they were my aunts in a vain attempt to deflect the barrage of comments expected only from young and exuberant minds facing their own sexual awakenings. It didn't matter. The comments would still be made anyway and, paradoxically as it may sound, I somewhat enjoyed earing them. Oh yeah...... they were something alright! This is an old photo, taken in 1948. It is somewhat faded and scratched, probably after being resurrected from some shoe box, but still conveys a bit of the glamorous four.













Uncles space under construction