St. Agnes’ Academy, Albay’s Class ’59: ‘Alive, well and full of joy’
By Loida Nicolas Lewis
“Ora et Labora”is Latin for “Pray and Work”, the motto of the Benedictine German Nuns in St. Agnes’ Academy (SAA) in Albay, Legazpi City from where we, my high school classmates of Class ’59, graduated nearly 65 years ago.
Recently, 11 of us had a reunion in Easthampton where the Lewis family maintains a summer home. We reminisced, laughed, danced, recalled our high school days and sang old SAA cheer songs and Filipino harana melodies.
During our days and nights of camaraderie and sharing, I realized that all 11 of us have gone through marriage life or single blessedness.
We raised our kids as best we could, some became widows, but because we always prayed to our Loving God and worked hard due to the discipline we learned from the Benedictine nuns, we endured, survived, and thrived. Mostly becoming octogenarians, living in the USA, we are alive and well and full of joy, thanks be to God.
Our main event planner is Rocio Nuyda, nee Casimiro. Gratefully, she was the lead Impresario for my 2023 California book tour in April, June and September. Widowed at 42 years old, she is the mother of five professional children, all of whom she raised single-handedly; she has 12 grandchildren. She retired from a senior executive position in credit card processing company, a position she held for over three decades.
Leonor Bismonte nee Cabigao and I were seatmates in high school. She was also our editor in chief at The Agnesian. She has seven children, five are married, and has nine grandkids and one great grandson. Her husband, Jun Bismonte, through his work with the United Nations, brought all of them to the USA because they knew their children faced few opportunities in Legazpi City. Jun passed seven years ago on December 7, 2016.
Sister Maribel Carceller joined the Religious of the Sacred Heart and served as Superior of the Philippine District before she was assigned to Northern Samar for 25 years where she was the executive director of the Sacred Heart Institute for Transformative Education Foundation. She is our only classmate who remains a nun.
Norma Rubio nee Balana graduated from our class with honors and was our class champion dancer. She retired after 24 years and lives with her husband Diego Rubio, Ph.D. in Virginia Beach. She has been chair of the Peñafrancia Celebration for the past 17 years because she does such a good job she gets re-elected every year. She adores her two grandsons from their daughter Theresa and her husband Ted. Son James is a musical composer in NYC.
Angelita Altea is devoted to her work and never married. She was the caregiver of a physically handicapped Harvard Professor Paul Weiler for 23 years until he passed three years ago. He pioneered the Sports and Entertainment at Harvard and was well revered by the sports industry in the U.S. and also in Canada, his birth country. She feels so honored to work for him. Because of her work, she has been able to fund the college education of her 15 nephews and nieces. A truly heroic overseas worker.
Josefina Perez nee Ruivivar is a retired nurse whose husband Johnny Perez, MD recently died of heart failure after a long illness. They have three children and nine grandchildren.
Babie Chua nee Filipinas Lianko is a retired accountant and lives in Las Vegas with her husband Benjie Chua. We all tease her that she is so blessed to marry a saint because Benjie does everything she wants him to do.
Noemi Navarro nee Goyena is the only one among us who is still working. She is an accountant with the Recreation and Parks Department of the City of Los Angeles. Her husband Rod has already retired from the Department of Public Works, Engineering Division, and is now her personal Uber service as she does not drive. They have two daughters and three grandchildren ages 26, 13 and 11.
Ammie Laguilles nee Serapio was very quiet during our high school days but now has blossomed into a gregarious self-confident retired executive from the U.S. Federal Government. She and her husband Jerome Laguilles are ballroom dancers and entered into competition during their early years. They visited Buenos Aires to improve their Argentine Tango. They have three married sons and six grandkids.
Jennie Chan nee Yap worked all her adult life at the United Nations as chief of the payment section of the Pension funds. She and her late husband Tom have two sons: David, an industrial engineer who works in Siemens, and Jason, a computer engineer employed by Merck. Tom died six years ago so Jennie had to sell her home and moved to an adult community.
Two friends who are not members of our class 1959 joined us. Marilou Bibera who lives in Las Vegas and has been a tremendous help in keeping an eye on some classmates whose heart is not as strong as before. The other non-classmate is Margot Goyena Datuin, who is the younger sister of Noemi Goyena Navarro and also a graduate of SAA. After our reunion, the two of them were flying to Paris, France.
As we said goodbye to one another, we all knew what tremendous blessings we have had from our education at St. Agnes Academy, habits and values that enable us to overcome the hurdles and challenges in life.
“Ora et Labora” works.
© The FilAm 2023
