“It is important to not just teach our kids to be smarter, but to be better people,” says Tiu, who still performs at 53 by the Sea and Halekulani. This dream never came true for the prodigy – her musical skills were too big to ignore, so she played the 88s at Carnegie Hall and other symphony houses the world over nine months out of the year.Īlways on the go, she never attended regular school and despite that, or maybe because of it, she developed a very keen sense of what a human should be. Where did that come from? They didn’t tell me to say that, I just wanted to be a nurse because I liked caring for people and trying to make them feel better.”

“My dad would have to translate for me, and he told me that I said I wanted to be a missionary nurse. “They would ask what I wanted to be when I grew up,” says Tiu. Her father used to tell Tiu about interviews they would do when they first emigrated from the Philippines when she was a mere 5 years old. This urge to help others transcends even her conscious memory. She was swayed by former honorees Larry Rodriguez and Mi Kosasa, who told her that this award would give her a new audience for her message to help people and creatures alike that are true victims and need a hand. I don’t feel I should be getting an award for doing something that just feels right.” “I can’t stand if you see a person or an animal in need and you can do something about it, not trying. “I do what I do because I cannot not do it,” says Tiu, who resisted receiving the award at first. Kekumano Award and Scholarship Dinner for her lifetime of commitment to those who do not have a voice. This is the motto of Maryknoll School, which will be honoring Tiu this Saturday at its 16th annual Monsignor Charles A. There is a sentiment from the New Testament, “From those to whom much is given, much is expected.” Or in French, Noblesse Oblige. She even received the highest of all compliments that can be bestowed upon her by 1960s America: her own line of paper dolls.īut this story is not about what she was given, but what she gave back in return.

The piano was her instrument, the world her audience. Kennedy, performed for Frank Sinatra and starred with Elvis Presley. She was given audience to President John F. By 5 she found herself at 1699 Broadway, playing for “Uncle Ed” as she called him, or Ed Sullivan for the rest of the world. Names such as Tiger Woods, Quinn Sullivan and Yo-Yo Ma are among these.īy the age of 3 she was playing songs on the piano that she had only heard, not been taught. Tiu: ‘I do what I do because I cannot not do it.’

Jennie teal piano prodigy