The woman behind the Joeten empire

Soledad Takai Tenorio, who served as a nurse during World War II and later rose to become the woman behind the scenes of one of the island’s most prominent local businesses, died Saturday at 81.

Born on Saipan in 1926, Tenorio, known popularly as Daidai, attended Japanese schools in her childhood during the occupation and worked on a family farm, harvesting coffee and cotton. As a young woman, she served as a nurse on the island, a role she kept after the outbreak of World War II, going on to care for the sick and dying at a U.S. Army hospital.

Daidai later married Jose Camacho Tenorio, also known as Joeten, in 1946, the entrepreneur behind Joeten Enterprises, which now has arms in retail sales, real estate, car sales and insurance. The two worked side by side.

Before the Joeten name became a household one on Saipan, however, the company began with a small retail store in Chalan Kanoa that most locals knew at the time as the “Daidai store,” according to Bishop Tomas Camacho, who said Soledad was instrumental in the early beginnings of the Joeten business empire.

“Daidai, everybody here would say she was the brain and the push for the business,” Camacho said in an interview Wednesday.

Son Norman remembered his mother taking the reins at the shop when his father was away, working tirelessly as the shop’s accountant while also raising a family.

“She was a tough lady,” he said. “She was basically the accountant for the business and at the same time she had to take care of us kids. She worked long hours.”

Daidai, he added, remained active in the business even long after her retirement and her husband’s death in 1993, coming to the company’s stores regularly to inspect them and ensure they lived up to her family’s legacy.

Daidai was a loving yet firm influence in her children’s lives, the family said in a statement, often inspecting their report cards and encouraging them to learn.

“Daidai embodied all that is beautiful and good about our family,” son Clarence T. Tenorio, said. “She inspired her children with graceful strength, unwavering commitment to family and keen concern for her community that she so dearly loves.”

A devout Catholic, Daidai became a major donor to the local church, providing funds for the Joeten-Daidai Social Hall and Diocesan Curia building, which prompted the Vatican to name her a Lady of the Order of St. Gregory the Great, the highest honor bestowed by the pope on a lay person.

Daidai is survived by her six children: Annie, Clarence, Norman, Patricia, Frances, and Priscilla, along with many grand and great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held Monday at Mount Carmel Cathedral and will begin with the responso at 8:30am. Burial services will begin 10:30am, followed by the burial itself at the Mount Carmel Cemetery.