‘I didn’t care starting a hot gossip; I wanted to dance with her’

By Cristina D.C. Pastor

It was an old-fashioned  romance but one that blossomed in this millennial era  of TikTok and COVID.

Not that they were consciously looking for love, but when it became clear to octogenarians retired Dr. Emilio Quines and Dr. Angie Cruz that they were becoming fond of each other, they didn’t fight their feelings.  

They have known each other for many years. They have crossed paths, may have attended the same fundraisers or danced in the same hotel ballroom. As a matter of fact Angie had known and admired Emilio’s wife, Felicisima, who passed away in 2019 due to pancreatic cancer.

Numerous months of running into each other at community events had not immediately sparked any talk about them.  Emilio was paired with a few other women, showing how Filipinos love to play matchmaker.  When Emilio chose Angie to be his first dance at a party in his waterfront home, she feared it would start tongues wagging. 

“When I danced with Angie  at that party she warned me that I was starting a hot gossip. But I didn’t care because I wanted to dance with her,” revealed the smiling Emilio when the couple guested on Makilala TV. “She is beautiful, she is talented.”  

Emilio is aware that “in our Filipino culture if you go out with more than one girl you are considered a playboy.” He may have done a bit of that, as attested to by Angie, but he maintained the word “playboy” did not apply to him.

“When my wife passed away I was devastated. I was living a bachelor’s life for about two years until a close friend told me to stop living in the past and live life. I started dating different women but to me going out with them is just  having a good time, having someone to dine with,” shared Emilio on the show. “I was going out with friends. I had to start from the beginning. They say if you go out with more than one woman,  you are considered some kind of Don Juan.”

When Emilio thought he was getting serious, he wondered whom Angie was dating. “I asked around and they said she wasn’t dating anybody.”

One of the first people who detected a budding romance was former Consul General Elmer Cato. 

Emilio quipped: “He offered to marry us right then and there after seeing us at the first social event we attended as a couple. It made me think that this thing  about Angie could become serious.”

For her part, Angie’s best friend CEO and philanthropist Loida Nicolas Lewis was among the first to notice sparks flying between the couple. 

Recalled Loida of that moment, “I said Angie, I think Doctor Quines may have a crush on you.” Angie brushed it aside, knowing the other women he dated, but she started to pay the doctor a closer look.

Angie told the show, “I do not play around, I am a serious person. To me a kiss is a very important thing. Unless I really like a man, I always turn away. My grandmother always told me that if I kiss a man I have to marry him! That was her generation.”

Angie doesn’t deny that at her age, she may have kissed a number of men. But they turned out to be frogs.

“When I kissed Emilio, he turned out to be a prince!”  She said this while taking a smiling glance at the doctor.

The couple married on September 7, 2023, their romance meriting a lovely writeup in The New York Times.“It’s Never Too Late to Find Love. Just Ask These Octogenarians” is the title of the article published on September 22, 2023 when Emilio was 83.  Angie turned 80 on the date of the wedding.

The couple had to decide if they wanted their romance covered  in the NYT. But Loida convinced them that their story can inspire people to hope for love, that it is possible regardless of age. Indeed some friends have confided to them that the article has given them hope  to find love!

In that piece Angie confessed surprise that she was getting married!  She said she was content being an unmarried woman. “The nuns at St. Theresa’s College, Manila, my Alma Mater, called that state single blessedness.” 

“To wait 80 years, I can’t believe it,” she told the Times.  

Asked how they are navigating domestic life as a couple, Emilio said, “There is always the question of differences but after we compromise, then back to lovemaking.” The couple were at their most candid during the show.

Asked if any of their friends had advised against marriage, Angie said in jest, “If there were, they never said anything to us.”

Emilio said his favorite part of the wedding was the marriage vows, “In sickness and in health, for richer and for poorer till death do us part.” That’s what marriage is about: the commitment.

Asked if Angie is inclined to use Emilio’s surname, she said she has not made any decision, but that “Angie Cruz Quines sounds nice.”

Makilala TV is the longest running talk show (10 years) for Filipinos on the East Coast. It is hosted by Rachelle Ocampo, Jen Furer and Cristina Pastor, and aired through Manhattan Neighborhood Network.

This article is also published in https://www.gmanetwork.com