Jose Ona and the wheel of life

There is a sign hung outside the door of Jose Ona’s office in Omega that reads, “Jose Ona: Your friend, teacher, grandpa, helper and counselor.”

The 81-year-old custodian has worked in the residence halls for over a decade, and he works hard to share the principles and values that he has learned throughout his life with the students at Western Washington University.

Born in the Philippines in 1935, Ona was brought up on a farm by parents who he says possessed only good virtues, visions and values in life. The family of six worked on the farm and lived in a small house.

He grew up during the Japanese occupation of the islands in World War II.

“We were forced labor without pay, and they would kick us when we worked slowly. As a child I was very afraid,” he said.

People evacuating Manila would come to Ona’s village, and his father took them in and shared their food.

“The lesson that I learned from my father is being honest, hardworking and sharing,” he said. “We shared everything that we had.”

Surviving the Japanese occupation is what encouraged Ona to work hard in school.

“I knew that I wanted to get out of poverty and get out of this mess. I knew if I survived, I would have to work hard and study hard,” he said.

"I knew if I survived, I would have to work hard and study hard."

The oldest of four boys, Ona, began attending school when he was 11 years old and the war was over. Ona walked to school every day, barefoot, on dirt trails. He studied on the walk to and from school, because when he was at home he was busy working on the farm and working around the house.

He worked hard to get good grades, and was given the opportunity to attend high school. The high school was three miles away, and Ona walked every day, crossing three rivers to get there. He continued to work hard and his high test scores caught the attention of the high school director, who owned the school.

One day he called Ona into his office. The director was known for being strict, so Ona was scared that he was in trouble. But instead, the director offered him the opportunity to live in his house and work for him, so that he didn’t have to travel so far every day to come to school.

When Ona told his parents about this opportunity, his mother cried and didn’t want to let him go.

“She loved me very much and was going to miss me,” Ona said. “But I told her if she didn’t let me go I would run away.”

He moved in with the director and his family. When he arrived there he had so few belongings that he carried them in an old Carnation evaporated milk box.

He worked for four years as the family’s house boy, cleaner, gardener, and as a custodian at the high school. He woke up at 4 a.m. every morning to start his chores, and didn’t go to bed until 10 p.m. This schedule left him very tired, but also very inspired – and he graduated high school in four years.

Ona says his No. 1 mission in life is to help people, and after graduation he had hoped to become a doctor.

“I did not have the student loans or money to pay for medical school. I cried and cried,” he said.

He ended up attending college and began working as a student assistant. He later moved on to work as a research instructor, which led to a job working in the International Rice Research Institute where he became the first research scholar in Agronomy.

Ona’s background in farming, and the research skills he had developed, helped him to create a rice production system that gave him the opportunity to work outside of the Philippines.

"If you want to lead goats, you cannot be a sheep; you need to be a good goat."

In 1966 he began working in South Vietnam as a Rice Production specialist where he was responsible for diversified integrated team organization, training, project planning, development of livelihood programs, food production training technicians and farmers/villagers to use the appropriate methods and technologies for food production increase.

While he was working there, the people in the village got along well with him, he said, because he made an effort to make sure that when he was training them they were all seen as equals.

“If you want to lead goats, you cannot be a sheep; you need to be a good goat,” he said.

He was in South Vietnam for nine years and while he was there saw a 15 times increase in rice production which resulted in better income, clothing and shelter, and gave people the will to fight for freedom, Ona said.

He vividly remembers January 31, 1968 when North Vietnam and Viet Cong forces launched attacks on more than 100 towns in South Vietnam as part of the Tet Offensive. He was in the middle of training 30 people in the Dong Nai Province to harvest rice. The helicopter that was originally used to bring Ona and the other workers supplies had to be used for war operations.

“We did not have enough supplies, so we had only one meal a day. I lost weight because we were not eating, but I survived,” he said.

After Vietnam, Ona spent years working as a consultant in places like Iran, Belize, Puerto Rico, and Indonesia.  

Even though he did not become a doctor, like he had dreamed about when he was young, his career and his work helping feed people in different countries around the world fulfilled his mission of helping people.

In 1994 Ona made the decision to join his family in the United States. His three children had moved to the U.S. from the Philippines while he was working abroad, and his daughter asked him to come join them in the U.S.

But after years of working as an agriculturist and consultant, he had trouble getting jobs once he arrived.

In 1998 Ona began working as a custodian at Western. He is close with the students in the residence halls and has used his life experiences as a way to share his values with the people he talks to. He presented this past fall at Nakama, a conference at Western that invites employees to gather for inspirational presentations. The theme this past fall was “Transforming Our World One Voice at a Time.” 

"I love my work and I love the residents. I enjoy helping people. As long as I can walk, I will work."

His presentation was titled “Combined Voices of Diversity in Action” and he explained the importance of unity, leadership and diversity. He encouraged others to constantly strive to better themselves, and hoped to motivate and encourage people to share their voices.

“I was born into poverty, but poverty is not an excuse to not help others and to not try to succeed,” he said. “The greatest glory in achieving success is not in never falling, but rising every time we fall.”

He has created a “wheel of life” that he presented at Nakama.

“I started as a custodian in the Phillipines, and now I am back in that position. Every person and position is equal, as long as they are doing their job, no matter what it is. We are all a part of this wheel of life and for it to work, every part must function,” he says.

Ona turned 81 in January, but said he has no plans to retire.

“I love my work and I love the residents. I enjoy helping people. As long as I can walk, I will work,” he said.

[ Editor's note: This article is one of a series running this week in Western Today in conjunction with the state’s Classified School Employees Week March 14 to 18. ]