Discovering the Trail of Thai Royalty in Massachusetts (2BKK.com)
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by Cholthanee Koerojna, October 19, 2009
The sweet harmonies of 14 little girls singing the US national anthem
and a Thai student in traditional dress intoning her national anthem
stirred the hearts of over 100 Boston-area residents last Sunday, 18
October 2009, as they honored the memory of the infant King Bhumibol
Adulyadej and his family at His Majesty�s first American home at 63
Longwood Avenue in Brookline.
The cold rainy weather did not dim the joy of Thai and American
citizens who had gathered to witness the installation of the plaque
(see accompanying photo) created by the King of Thailand Birthplace
Foundation that marks the apartment building where Prince Mahidol and
his wife Mom Sangwan lived with their children Princess Galyani
Vadhana and Prince Anandha when Bhumibol was born. The bronze plaque
was unveiled by KTBF president Cholthanee Koerojna and Joanne M.
Sullivan, one of the homeowners in the building. Thai Buddhist monks
from Wat Boston Buddha Vararam blessed and anointed the plaque.
After the unveiling the choirmaster of Park School, the elementary
school of Princess Galyani Vadhana, led her choir of 14 in opening the
community proceedings with the American national anthem. Ms Duangpon
Phongphasuk, a music graduate who has performed for royal audiences in
Bangkok, sang the Thai national anthem.
Proud of its history of resident Siamese royals, the Town of Brookline
had proclaimed the 18th of October as 'Trail of Thai Royalty Day'. At
the ceremonies, Town Selectman Ms Jesse Mermell read the proclamation
and presented a copy to KTBF(...)
For two years from 1926 to 1928, the family of Prince Mahidol lived in
the first floor of the three-story building at 63 Longwood Avenue in
Brookline, a town near the Charles River surrounded by metropolitan
Boston. Prince Mahidol, known as �Father of Modern Medicine and Public
Health in Thailand�, was completing his medical and public health
studies at Harvard. His commoner wife Mom Sangwan was studying nursing
and home economics at nearby Simmons College with practical work at
local hospitals such as Boston Lying-in Hospital (now part of Brigham
and Women�s Hospital) and Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge. Little
Princess Galyani experienced her first school days at the Park School
in Brookline.
The mystery of precisely which apartment the young royal family
occupied was solved the day before the ceremonies after one of the
audience, Ms Susan Wolkon, read in the Boston Globe about the event to
take place on October 18th and called KTBF. Ms Wolkon announced that
in 1960 King Bhumibol and Queen Sirikit had visited her grandparents
Ira and Rose Einstein at the 63 Longwood apartment they were occupying
at the time, where His Majesty had lived as an infant. She displayed
documents and pictures that showed that the entire first floor with
six rooms and a sun porch had been the future king�s first home.
Rounding out the community celebrations were talks by Brookline
residents and by Mr Rob Crawford of the Park School, who read out a
touching reminiscence that Princess Galyani�s teacher had written to
Mom Sangwan on the eve of the family�s return to Siam in 1928. Thai
residents performed dances and music on the kheem and demonstrations
of vegetable- and fruit-carving as well as songs composed by His
Majesty. The audience tucked in to a lunch of Thai food offered by
local restaurants.
The next event of KTBF, whose mission is historic preservation,
cultural exchange and community service in commemoration of the Thai
royal family history in Massachusetts, will be the dedication of a
plaque at King Bhumibol�s birthplace, Mount Auburn Hospital in
Cambridge, and his 82nd birthday celebrations on 5 December 2009.
* Cholthanee Koerojna is President of The King of Thailand Birthplace
Foundation based in the Boston suburb of Burlington, Massachusetts
http://thailink.com/ktbf/