Farewell, Miss Cruz

Pinky Aragon of Prep 1965 wrote this.

                        Farewell, Miss Cruz
 

For three days The UPIS Multi-purpose Hall, Diliman, Quezon
City sheltered the remains of Flora Guillermo Cruz, math teacher of UP
Preparatory School who died on Oct. 7.

In life and in death, she brought together former students - during the past two years as she fought tthe cancer that ultimately claimed her body, as well as during her wake and burial.

As early as 1996 Ana B. was quite instrumental in updating
batchmates about Miss Cruz' valiant battle. She would give progress reports
during reunions such as the birthday party of Luis and the despedida for
Ling, both last year. Again, Ana performed her "town crier" role on
Oct. 8 and 9 despite being confined to bed recuperating from the hysterectomy
that allowed her to be around in the last two weeks of Miss Cruz. Both
were confined at the St. Luke's Medical Center.

As soon as Ana was notified that Miss Cruz had passed away,
the phone and e-mail barrage started, thanks to Vergel who joined Dennis
and Francis and became among the first visitors on Oct. 8. Girlie came
with her mom in the morning of Oct. 9; Jerry Barican - now the spokesperson
of president Erap - also dropped by, on his way to the airport for the
APEC Summit.  Edith sent a note  from Stanford.

The first thing that greeted everyone at the Hall was a
collage of pictures of Miss Cruz, aptly entitled Muling-Tanaw. And to the
left was a table with two tall bottles filled with notes from visitors
who were invited to jot down their thoughts on mini-sheets of brown handmade
papers. Then to the right - the coffin of gold, silver and white silk cloth.
A framed picture of Miss Cruz was atop. The lid was ajar to hold ribbons
marked with the names of her family. Occupying an unexpected place of honor
was Ana's farewell note (fortunately, unsigned, she says).

The Hall was filled to capacity on the last night of the
wake - Oct. 9. And what a way to open the literary-musical program! With
a "rosario cantada" by seven elderly men. They sang the decadesof the Rosary, as well as
hymns to the Virgin, in three languages - English, Pilipino and Latin. The team, led by an in-law of Miss Cruz's, has gone as far as Nueva Ecija responding to requests for this religious-literary form.
It took a death for some of us to discover how the men of Marikina can
sing songs of supplications purely from memory.

The event that followed reflected her love for music, said a member of Miss Cruz's family. The Program said:

Salamat, Panginoon. sa buhay ni Poy na kanya ring inihandog sa iyo bilang anak, kapatid, ninang, ate,
kaibigan at guro. Ngayong gabi, ipinagdiriwang din namin ang 58 taon na ibinigay mo sa kanya para makasama namin sa pamamagitan ng awit at tula.Salamat din sa pagkakataong ito ng aming
muling pagsasama upang maihatid namin siyang pabalik sa iyong piling.

Teret de Villa, principal of UPIS, welcomed everyone to
the paghahandog of colleagues from UPIS, friends, classmates, students
and relatives.

The program started with three songs from a UPIS student
who could beat any professional singer with her voice, style and presence.
How's that for starters?

Next came teachers who are part of a Christian group at
the UPIS. They aptly sang to Miss Cruz, "Great is they faithfulness."
They were followed by UPIS kawani (non-academic staff) who serenaded her
with "The Last Waltz", a capella style.Then came another group who sang about "the love that
will keep us strong" and that "a lifetime's not too long to lead
us.

They were followed by Next were co-members of Miss Cruz in the Education Forum
who told the audience that she had done the original module for numeracy
and that among their students in functional literacy were the Aetas of
Zambales. Guess who was holding up the flashcards for the icebreaker
song acted out by his wife Shayne and the others: "Malalim tulad ng
dagat ang diwa ko"? No less than Dr. Bienvenido Lumbera, 1993 Ramon
Magsaysay awardee for Journalism, Literaure and Creative Communication.

The civic-minded professors were followed by Miss Cruz's co-graduates, one of whom recalled decades of togetherness "mula 1958, 1968, 1978, 1988 hanggang ngayong 1998".

Then came the turn of Prepians, led by Mabini "EQ" Pablo (now an undersecretary of DPWH). They sang "The Green Leaves of Summer" which EQ had learned "mula sa isang PMT Commandant
na nagpapapanggap na Glee Club adviser, si Mr. Torralba, at sa isang math
teacher na nagpapanggap na co-adviser niya - si Miss Cruz." It was the chance of mostly-Class '66 Prepians to pay tribute to 'the vocal coach of Ate Edith sa My Fair Lady,' Gel Sangalang-Valbuena
recalls about Miss Cruz and the Class '65 Students' Theater production
under Felice Prudente (now Sta. Maria).

Before the program started, EQ had gathered his batchmates
at the back of the hall for a first-and-only practice. As he distributed
the lyrics, he hummed the tune and Liz Plana (now an OB-Gyne doctor), Josie
Angeles (now a manager at Metrobank and sorry, she cannot trace where Ermie
Fernando is), Jess Lucas, Vic Yenko, Manolo Canillas (yes) and others scanned
the bold letters and big type of the sheets EQ has taken time to reproduce.

And as they stood in front of everyone (no blocking or
pre-arranged order whatsoever), EQ cued the videoke, Liz ad-libbed about
the enthusiasm about singing again for Miss Cruz, and the singers pulled
Dennis from the front rows to represent Class '65 together with Pinky.

Their song turned out well. Everyone was jubilant. Then
the mood turned sober as EQ serenaded Miss Cruz with "Softly (As I
leave You)" at her special request, it seems. Now it can be told -
it was she who had prodded Class '66 to come together.

Well, the members are making up for lost time. Proof: Boo Chanco, now a vice-president at Benpres Holdings and a three-times-a-week columnist, was talking shop with the husband of Josie Angeles at the back of the hall. Proof again: EQ decided to forego the Alpha Sigma Double-Ten
reunion that night just to sing with his batchmates. And proof again: Frine
Zaballero made it a point to come even it was already quite late.

UPIS teachers gave an interpretative reading of "What
Cancer Cannot Do" - a poem written by the cousin of South African
Shamina Shaik who founded and headed the Gender Desk of the Muslim Youth
Movement and who died at the age of 37 on January 8 this year. Posted at
the door of this ground-breaking activist, it reads:

Cancer is so limited.

It cannot cripple love,

It cannot shatter hope,

It cannot corrode faith,

It cannot destroy peace,

It cannot kill friendship,

It cannot suppress memories,

It cannot silence courage,

It cannot invade the soul,

It cannot steal eternal life,

It cannot conquer the spirit.

Throughout the program, there was community singing of
oldies but goodies - songs Miss Cruz had loved and which had sustained
her and her co-teachers as they would collate UPCAT sheets for testing
centers throughout the country. So it was down memory lane, thanks to "I
Believe"(1952) and "I'll Be Loving You (Always)" and "Blowing
in the Wind"(1960s) properly accompanied by the videoke. Good documentation!

The others in the songbook distributed together with the
Programa: "Beautiful Dreamer" (1862): "By the Light of the Silvery Moon"(1919);  "When You're Smiling"(1928); "Stardust"(1929); "Bewitched"(1941); "You'll Never Know"(1943); "May the Good Lord Bless and Keep You"(1950); "No Other Love"(1950); "Fly Me to the Moon"(1954); "Love is a Many-splendored Thing" (1950); and "I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane"and "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" (both 1960s).

The program ended but Prepians formed a large circle and
started renewing ties. Franklin arrived without Pat, followed by Jimmy.
Arlette came with Ed Umali (he's the GM of Cosmos San Fernando plant) and
his younger sis Angela (Class  1968, now a doctor). Vergel might not have
come but his sis Chito, also of Class '68, did.

Some of the others who also came (with apologies for the
missing names, batches and married names!):

Julio Arambulo (what's he doing after his stint at DTI?

Xenia Tiglao (now a nuclear physicist at the UP College
of Medicine)

Emy Sycip (Joseph's younger sis)

Lorna Rayos del Sol

the doctor who is Gus Sevilla's cousin and the youngest
sis of Marilou Zurbano (now in Australia; their younger sis Ludy is with
ADB)

Anna de la Cruz (wife of scriptwriter-director-Palanca
Prize winner Urro)

the younger sis of Cynthia Galvez (who informs us Cynthia
died a few years ago of cancer) and their brother Jullette who owns Taste
of L.A. (along Roces Avenue near corner Morato)

Bambi Fonacier (who has given up disc-jockeying to concentrate
on Odyssey Tapes),

Diana Yap, back from Cebu

Isauro Caballes (who says Aida is doing fine in Sta. Monica)

Boyette Fernandez (now a lawyer)

the son of Mrs. Goseco who works with Ayala Corporation

Joscelyn Casaje-Marcelo,  minus her long hair but living up to the
family tradition by managing her optometry shop at Glo-ri Supermart near
Anonas

Susan Umaly (Batch 1968, now with Security Bank) and elder
sister Vilma (who was not a pupil of Miss Cruz but got to meet her through
a friend)

Of course, the former Misses Alarcon and Garcia were around
to warmly welcome the Prepians and introduce them to UPIS teachers. But
for the most part, the Prepians managed on their own, seeing how busy the
faculty and the relatives of Miss Cruz were.

It threatened rain the following afternoon but that did
not dampen the mood for the farewell rites. UPIS placed violet-and-white
ribbons on the posts leading to the Multi-purpose Hall and assigned an
honor guard from the PMT corps of cadets (many of them girls, one of whom
sported a maroon-and-green sash) to stand at attention by the door.

Felix Bustos came with youngest son Dino, an economics
student at La Salle. As he walked to the parking lot, Felix couldn' help
but recall a happier time, the last time Prepians '65 had gathered before
this death - Luis' 50th birthday last August, held at Barrio Fiesta UN
Avenue with fellow Lions and Sigma Rhoans. An unexpected but welcomed guest
then: Joe Osteria, now doing HRD consultancies, a far cry from his engineering
background.

Gil Gotiango also made it, all the way from UP Cebu where
he is the associate dean (Ana's notes at the History Department and at
his residence worked, thanks to a wedding he had to attend as a sponsor
- tumatanda na tayo at hindi na lang tayo abay, ano?). Both of them made
a beeline to Mrs. Cortes who now walks with a cane and was being aided
by Eleanor Abeleda (still smiling warmly!).

During the mass, the reverend father praised Miss Cruz
for a lifetime of achievements. He commended her to the Lord and blessed
her remains as her family stood by. Her youngest sister Zeny thanked everyone
for being with them in their hour of grief.

The funeral cortege then took off for the cemetery, passing
through the newly opened shortcut inside the Balara Filters. At the Aglipayan
cemetery - which was established long before the municipal cemetery of
Marikina and which holds the remains of the parents of Miss Cruz - everyone
gathered at the chapel for the last prayers.

Several other funerals were winding along the main street momentarily confusing Miss Garcia as to which one was ours.
 

From the chapel the remains of Miss Cruz were taken to
the family mausoleum which stood along a block-long wall stocked high with
at least 10 levels of niches (the best business these days, remarked Gel,
is developing memorial parks, as she is helping do for the Sunrise Gardens
in Antipolo).

Not everyone could get to the mausoleum so Gel (ever the
kiti-kiti) climbed up a wall, got the roses, daisies and amaryllises being
passed along, and handed them over to Miss Cruz' family. In the end, though,
as cemetery personnel piled cement on the coffin, everyone got a chance
to walk by and say a last good-bye. Miss Cruz was buried on the eve of
the feastday of La Naval de Manila - Our lady of the Most Holy Rosary.
What does one say after good-bye? Perhaps, "Long live."  Why not indeed?

Long live the memory of a woman who guided teen-agers through
algebra and helped some of them discover how they like the exact sciences
- and later, welded them together.

Long live the memory of a teacher who led in the making
and validation of the UPCAT - yet found time to sing.

And long live the memory of a citizen who was concerned
enough about functional literacy to help her less fortunate brother and
sisters.

And lastly, long live the memory of a daughter, sister,
aunt and godmother who was clearly loved by her relatives.
 
 

pinky; 10 October 1998; 2 a.m.
Pinky may be reached at pchoudhury@pacific.net.ph
 
 

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