Last week, the Almighty Kabunyan sent down one after the other His personal deputies to fetch and guide the departed souls of relatives and friends through their journey beyond the sunset. We may not read their names nor find out about their travel to the great beyond since the local paper that is missed for its obituary notices more than its news pages folded up permanently.
Surely, Mrs. Maria Canol Manno, 96, of La Trinidad and Kapangan will deeply be missed, most particularly, her motherly role and tender loving care towards her immediate family, especially her children and grandchildren, relatives, in-laws, and friends.
Her daughter Pilar and son Francis had to come home with their siblings to manage the funeral. So Pilar had to leave her dear hubby Conrad Marzan, our old friend, in California. Mrs. Manno was laid to rest at their beautiful home in Paykek, Kapangan.
Two weeks earlier, Mrs. Manno’s “abalayan,” Mrs. Tomasa Manuel Marzan, 96, the mother of Conrad, left her family as she had been in bed for quite a time. The wake of Ma’am Marzan, my teacher in Grade 4, was truly a celebration of life since her sons and daughters were all singer-musicians in their own right. Of course, musician-friends joined the midnight choir.
Both Mrs. Manno and Mrs. Marzan lived to the ripe ages of 96. The Almighty will bless their souls and guide their orphaned families.
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I am also quite certain that La Trinidad Councilor Francis Abance Lee, 65, would every so often be the center of conversations in the many circles and relations that he belonged to because his absence would be felt.
Councilor Francis left us on September 25, 2024 due to a lingering illness. He was laid to rest in his residential lot at Puguis, La Trinidad.
Definitely, his warm persona and memories will forever be kept in the hearts and minds of his loved ones, especially his immediate family, in-laws, relatives, friends, his colleagues in the La Trinidad legislative body, and the municipal employees. I will miss his smile, his company, and toasts of brandy.
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While we were celebrating the life of Pilar’s mother, the news of the passing of Manang Carmen Comiles Beray came. I first met Manang Carmen at her restaurant sometime in 1976 through my “long lost cousin” Sammy Comiles and then-Benguet provincial lawyer Bembo C. Afable.
I recall her as a very accommodating sister to all her visitors and customers from all over. This, even after all her food display and gin bottles have been downed. Bless her soul as she opens her restaurant in the sky to Bembo and others as her first morning customers. Bless her bereaved children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, too.
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In the last week of August, my cousin-in-law, Engr. Ernesto Pideli, 66, of Itogon and Bokod, came home from Europe to visit his best friend, Engr. Camilo “Peresen” Pappa who was rushed to the hospital because of a serious condition.
Unfortunately, our friend Peresen did not make it. He was laid to rest a week later at his residence at Adonot, Ambuclao, Bokod. His wife Vivian and children, his brother “manong” Nato Severo and other siblings, relatives, in-laws, friends, and I will surely miss him and would treasure his memories.
As for our “bayaw” Ernie, he was unable to catch his best buddy Peresen as the latter had already traveled beyond the horizon before he arrived. Indeed, the fate of one comes unexpectedly. Last week, bayaw Ernie was rushed to the hospital due to pains he felt in his stomach. He expired a few hours later.
I dropped by his house at Kapjaran, Pico before he was brought to Daclan, Bokod. His wife Edna and children, grandchildren, relatives, in-laws, and friends will definitely miss him. But we will remember him always. I imagine that he is now with his buddy Peresen reveling in a peaceful and fragrant heavenly orchard prepared by the Greatest Gardener.
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Our cousin, Bokod councilor Arthur Lamsis Solano had not been feeling well lately as I heard that he had been rushed to the hospital last week. He did not make it. Although, the last time I met him, he was his normal self with that signature Arthur smile, and responding when talked to.
He now lies in state at their home at Lebeng, Ambuclao. Our sympathies to his loved ones who will surely miss him, including his colleagues in the municipal council, relatives, and friends.
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Last week, somebody texted me saying that my idol Kris Kristofferson passed on September 28, 2024 at the age of 88. Born on June 22, 1936, Kris Carson, as he was previously known, was a favorite among country music lovers. He was a singer-songwriter, who is not one among the contemporary pop country performers that you hear on your local radio.
Although he was an actor who was a multi-awardee of the Grammy, having been nominated 13 times; he was mostly a musician in the ‘70s who steered away from the common country sound toward a more raw but reflective style of singing and songwriting, an example of which was his composition called “Sunday Morning Coming Down.”
I am quite sure it will not be easy for the ladies to forget him just like his songs like “Help Me Make It Through The Night” and “For the Good Times” seem to have made him an immortal figure.
I personally like “Me and Bobby McGee,” but I do have a collection of not-so-popular songs of Kristofferson that I used to sing in the late ‘70s and late ‘80s when I was still in the folk house circuit. But I need to read the lyric sheets now when asked to render a song—the price of growing white mustache.
Of course, we will remember Kris Kristofferson everytime we see his roles in “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid” or “A Star Is Born.” Kris Kristofferson lives as long as his songs are played repeatedly.
In the middle of the ‘80s, he joined “The Highwaymen,” an American country music group composed of three other musician outlaws, namely Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Willie Nelson.
With three of them singing in the sky, the group has only Willie Nelson left here on earth.