It was 50 years ago, in early 1960, when Mabel Moitoso, then 50 years old, and her husband, Gabe, were in the midst of nonstop efforts to bring more than 30 families and a number of single men to this area from the devastated island of Faial in the Azores.

The tiny island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean had been hit in September 1957 by erupting volcanoes and earthquakes that destroyed whole villages and numerous houses and businesses. The widespread destruction made many families homeless and left the economy in shreds.

Today, Mabel Moitoso still vividly remembers her family’s commitment to provide a new start in California for the Faial refugees. She does so as she marks her 100th birthday.

As she passes the century mark, the longtime Tracy resident has less mobility than she once had, but she remains aware and alert — and with a clear recollection of those hectic times half a century ago.

Mabel said John Kennedy, then a U.S. senator from Massachusetts — the home of many Portuguese-Americans — authored a bill to add up to 1,500 families from the Azores to normal U.S. immigration quotas. The Moitosos volunteered to be a sponsoring family.

“Our home was really the center of a lot of activity,” she said. “When the people arrived from Faial, many stayed with us until they could find a place to live and get jobs. We had people all over the house.”

As one family moved out, another family moved in, and that continued for more than three years. They were all sponsored by the Moitosos, who guaranteed financial support.

“Many times, we would wind up having as many as 12 people for dinner,” Mabel said. “We always managed to have enough food to go around, though.”

During their stay with the Moitosos, people arriving from Faial would learn how to cope in a new country with a different language. The children were immediately placed into Tracy schools, where they began to learn English with the help of their classmates. The children taught their parents English.

Mabel told a Tracy Press reporter in 1959:

“The people of Tracy have been very good to us. These families must begin life in America with little more than the clothes they wore and often with a large debt to pay in Portugal, which they incurred arranging passage.”

She said Tracy residents donated clothing, furniture and other necessities, as well as helping find jobs for the newcomers.

Over the years, many of the families and single men have maintained contact with the Moitosos, their first “anchor” in a new land.

But the years she spent helping refugees from Faial settle in the U.S. were just one of a myriad of periods in the life of Mabel Teixeira Moitoso.

Born in Cupertino on Dec. 29, 1910, she spent her early years in the San Jose area, where her father, Joseph Teixeira, was a tinsmith in the Santa Clara Valley. The family moved to Tracy when Mabel was 6 years old.

“At first, we lived out in the Naglee-Burk district northwest of Tracy, and then we moved to MacArthur Drive, south of Tracy,” she recalled. “My dad farmed awhile and then became an undersheriff for Sheriff Riecks of San Joaquin County.”

Mabel would walk 4 miles from their home to West Park School and, later, to the new Tracy High School, which stood “way out” on the east side of town.

While in high school, she secured a temporary job typing in the office of William Schlossman, who was the first secretary of the newly formed Banta-Carbona Irrigation District. She decided to continue working instead of returning to school, first packing tomatoes in a packing shed and then working in the Carbona bean warehouse. She earned $2 a day at the start.

In 1927, she married Gabriel Moitoso, a native of Faial in the Azores who had arrived in the area in 1920. They met at a dance platform that was a gathering place for young people near the Platti dairy north of town.

“Those were tough times, and Gabe milked cows and worked at the Dairymaid Creamery and then as a ditch-tender for Banta Carbona,” she said.

Her husband then enrolled in a mail correspondence course for meat-cutting and, with that knowledge and after some practical experience working for Souza Bros., opened a butcher shop on Central Avenue. He later operated the meat department in the West Side Market.

In 1938, the Moitosos moved from a 5-acre apricot orchard on Linne Road to 100 acres they purchased on the north side of Schulte Road between Corral Hollow and Lammers roads west of town. The family home remains there today. Gabe farmed a portion of the property, raising mostly tomatoes and alfalfa, and leased out some of the land. In the 1940s, he entered the real estate business before retiring.

Over the years, the Moitosos were active in local Portuguese organizations. They traveled frequently to the Azores and also visited countries throughout Europe.

Long a supporter of the IPFES Portuguese Society by securing meat, produce and financial contributions for annual festas, Gabe Moitoso was well-known in the Tracy area. He died in 1994 at the age of 89.

Mabel, whose father was the first president of the IPFES in 1924, has been a longtime member of the UPPEC Portuguese women’s society and also was a member of the Native Daughters of the Golden West, Young Ladies Institute and St. Bernard’s Altar Society.

Although she is still active, her mobility has been slowed in recent years by hip surgeries and a broken leg two years ago.

Now using a walker to get around, she lives in the family home on Schulte Road with the help of her caretaker, Maria Oliveira. Much of the farm acreage that once surrounded the home on the west side of Corral Hollow Road is now covered by homes.

She makes weekly trips to the beauty shop and visits old friends.

Mabel has two children, Carol Jaques, who lives in Tracy with her husband, Tony, and Robert Moitoso, who lives in Fremont with his wife, Trisha.

There are seven living grandchildren: Diana Mast, Anthony Jaques, Ann Machado and Marie Morris, all of Tracy, Mario Jaques of Roberts Island, Antoinette Crosby of Manteca and Gretchen Cova of Fremont. Two grandchildren, Gary and Tracy Moitoso, have died. There are 17 great-grandchildren.

Relatives and friends gathered Dec. 29 at Dave Wong’s restaurant in Stockton to help Mabel celebrate her 100th birthday.

How does she keep active and engaged as a centenarian?

“I just take it a day at a time and remain as active as I can,” she said, adding with her familiar candor, “I’m just lucky that I still have my marbles.”

• In the Spotlight is a weekly profile in Our Town. To nominate someone or to comment on this story, contact Our Town Editor Jaclyn Hirsch at jhirsch@tracypress.com.