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The family of Leila A. Catedral uploaded a photo
Thursday, August 31, 2017
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Ileta Buenaventura posted a condolence
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Mommy was born in Hinigaran, Negros Occidental, Philippines in 1924, on the right day of the year because it was a leap year and she was born on February 28! She was the second child of Efigina and Daniel Agustin. The family would grow to have 11 children, three boys and all the rest girls. My grandmother insisted her daughters would all finish school which was uncommon in those days.
Mom went to school in Central Philippine College, a school run by American Missionaries. She and my Dad were school mates. She was studying nursing when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour. They all had to hurriedly pack and sail home. My Mom still remembers running up a hill with her younger siblings to escape the invasion. My Dad became a 2nd Lieutenant in the US army, and later a guerrilla fighter. During the war he wrote Mom love letters, sometimes on leaves, as there was a shortage of paper. I don't know how they reached her, but they did!
After the war Mom went back to school and got her degree. She worked for the American Red Cross in the blood bank. She was called "one-shot Leila" for her skill with the needle. Later Mom went to Philadelphia, one of the early batches of nurses from the Philippines. She was an operating room nurse and she loved her job very much. But one day she had to have surgery and came to realized it was time to accept my Dad's long term courtship and start a family. She returned to the Philippines and married Demetrio Perla Catedral on October 29, 1956.
I remember my Mom as working hard everyday. We lived in a small island where my Dad managed the second largest cement producing factory in the Philippines. Mom was the factory nurse for a while. The doctor came to the island only once a week. A few nights we woke up to find our parents gone as Mom was called to deliver a baby or attend to a worker in the factory.
Mom raised geese, pigs and chickens to supplement our family income. She sewed most of our clothes and made sure we had good, nutritious meals and a clean home. She insisted we had music lessons. She was a good, strict Mom.
When we were older, she went back to work full time as a nurse in the Family Planning Organization of the Philippines. Once again she loved her job and made it a personal mission to help the country control one of the fastest growing populations in the world. In 1977 a correspondent for National Geographic even interviewed and quoted her! She had her own family planning radio program where her humour and insights gained a huge fan base among the farmers wives and other locals.
Mom and Dad helped build churches, were active in the Gideons and enjoyed biking 10 to 20 kilometers a week into their 60s. They helped us a lot as we started our adult and married lives, especially with baby sitting the grandchildren. After our Dad died in 1995 here in Virginia, Mom stayed active, visiting the Philippines several times. She kept in touch with her large family of siblings, nieces and nephews through email and later Facebook. She also fulfilled her lifelong dream of visiting Israel.
Leila is predeceased by her husband, Demetrio P. Catedral (June 8, 1995), her brothers Daniel and Jeremias and sister Virginia. She is survived by her three children, Ileta Buenaventura (m. Armando), Demetrio Jr. (m. Lisa Gosling), Eugene (m. Ann Marie Triana), her grandaughters, Rahani Buenaventura Mohan (m. Nabeel ), Emily Krista Catedral, Kristine Catedral, Alyssa Catedral and Martina Catedral; and her sisters and brother: Nilda Blake, Reme Nelson, Efida Evangelista, Efiginia Lum, Henrietta Nolido, Joel Agustin and Raelyn Joyce.
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ILETA BUENAVENTURA posted a condolence
Friday, March 22, 2013
ILETA BUENAVENTURA purchased flowers (Pastel Peace Basket)
We love you forever Mommy! from Inday, Armand, Rani and Nabeel
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Thomas posted a condolence
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Thomas purchased flowers (Morning Stars Arrangement)
With our deepest sympathy, Tom & Juan Carlos
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wilson posted a condolence
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Family you have my deepest sympathy. Death is indeed our enemy. We look forward to the promise to be fulfilled when we won't cry out in pain, no more sorrow and death will be no more. Revelation 21:3, 4.
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Ileta Dee Catedral- Buenaventura posted a condolence
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Thank you loved ones for your love and compassion in honouring our MOM. May God bless you all!
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Thomas Pheasant Interiors posted a condolence
Monday, March 18, 2013
Thomas Pheasant Interiors made a donation to HOSPICE OF THE CHESAPEAKE
Dear Eugene, You and your family are in our thoughts and prayers during this time of loss. With deepest sympathy from all of us at TPI.