Lola Madre's Birthday Celebration

As early as February, Ate Marynat already reminded us of the forthcoming 99^th birthday of Sor Victorina on March 10, 2009. She was determined to visit her, with or without the rest of DPS Class 67. March 10 was, however, a Tuesday, so it would be difficult for those of us who are working to find time to go to Our Lady of Consolation Convent in San Juan.

So we decided on a Sunday visit in the afternoon of March 8, two days ahead of her birthday. Ate Marynat coordinated with Sister Terry. Several couldn’t make it like Bert, Ed, and Rudy, who were all out of the country. Those who finally made it were Ate Marynat accompanied by her niece, Angelica, Alot, Tess, Lina with her husband and youngest child, and me.

We brought some food for a simple feast with Mother Superior. Tess brought the birthday cake. There was also lumpiang sariwa (Rudy’s specialty), litson manok, Pancit Malabon, halayang ube (courtesy of Bert), and drinks.

It turned out that Sor Victorina’s clan from Iriga were also there to celebrate her birthday. There was a streamer greeting Lola Madre, and there were balloons too. Sor Victorina had to blow candles in two birthday cakes. But there had to be a take three because blowing of candle in the second cake (our cake) was not initially captured by the camera. Now, the third time was an ordeal for her. It took a while before she could blow it.

The pictures show that Lola Madre was genuinely happy. On Sis. Terry’s prodding, she welcomed us, she sang happy birthday, stood up and danced a little. She was not only smiling, she was laughing. She must have enjoyed being in the company of her loving relatives and former wards.

Next year , with God’s will, Sor Victorina will be marking her centennial birthday. Since our class is having a reunion next year, wouldn’t it be appropriate to have a visit to her as one of the activities, either before or after the Daet affair? Sis. Terry said, a mass can be arranged.

For those who will be in the country on March 10, 2010, perhaps we can arrange for a more grand celebration. This invitation is open not only to class 67 but to all other Parochialites who were in DPS at the time Sor Victorina was the Mother Superior.

Please write your comments and suggestions to this blogsite or to our egroup:

dps-class67@googlegroups.com

What about putting up a Foundation for Sor Victorina to promote Alternative Learning System for the out-of-school youth? (not just class-67's efforts but perhaps the Alumni Association). Let's open this topic up to brain-storming, so no shooting of ideas yet. That would come later. What would be welcome are your ideas.

If you also have old pictures or articles with Sor Victorina in them, please scan and send them to this egroup. We hope to do a more extensive video presentation on Lola Madre.

(Thanks to Angelica David, Ate Marynat’s niece for taking pictures and for uploading them).

The complete set of pictures will be uploaded to our photo gallery later. In the meantime, if you want to see them all, watch the video of the celebration in our video bar.