Since all of my FIL's siblings are in town, a memorial service was organized at the family plot for Tito Lerm.
Tito Lerm passed away last April in his Florida home. He is the eldest in the family. He is also the tallest. He lived a very simple but complicated life. He is known for re-using disposable coffee filters, un-laundered jeans, and for sporting his cowboy hat and boots wherever he goes. He is also quite the talker. You'd never know if he was telling the truth or making it up. People gradually get up from the table and leave when the kwentuhan sessions are too lengthy already.
He is survived by five wives and several children. Unfortunately, none of them were with him at the time of his death.
I'd say, he was more committed to his career than to anything in his life. He claimed to be a colonel though he had five stars. We only know that he worked for the US government. Until now, we are unsure if it was with the Secret Service, CIA, FBI or US Marshall's Office. We all know that as soon as he died, all his work-related belongings were seized by unknown men. All that was left to relatives in Manila were a Harvard mug, a model plane and a will that caused so much tension between two siblings.
He led a full life. He died with no regrets. I am not so sure if that is a good thing.
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After the service, we headed to Tito Romy's 70th birthday lunch at Little Asia in Morato. Food was good. I was seated beside the heavyweights, Vic, Kuya Jon, Jay-R and Euan. Tita Dely kept replenishing our table with food because they almost immediately disappear. As usual, Kris arrived late. I was afraid that there would be no food left for her.
Everyone was looking for Johann. We dropped him off at home knowing that the invitation indicated our names only. It turned out to be a good move on our part. The place was too crowded to tug along a toddler and a yaya.
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With the balikbayans struggling with jet lag, it was decided to have dinner at the home base. Dinner was composed of tinolang manok, paksiw na lechon and tinapang bangus. It was the perfect time to catch up on stories. If only we had coffee.
The percolator was dug up from storage. While it was being cleaned, they got beans from Starbucks. The coffee addicts were ready to pull an all-nighter. We, on the other hand, left an hour and a half later.
The next day is a big day.
Tito Lerm passed away last April in his Florida home. He is the eldest in the family. He is also the tallest. He lived a very simple but complicated life. He is known for re-using disposable coffee filters, un-laundered jeans, and for sporting his cowboy hat and boots wherever he goes. He is also quite the talker. You'd never know if he was telling the truth or making it up. People gradually get up from the table and leave when the kwentuhan sessions are too lengthy already.
He is survived by five wives and several children. Unfortunately, none of them were with him at the time of his death.
I'd say, he was more committed to his career than to anything in his life. He claimed to be a colonel though he had five stars. We only know that he worked for the US government. Until now, we are unsure if it was with the Secret Service, CIA, FBI or US Marshall's Office. We all know that as soon as he died, all his work-related belongings were seized by unknown men. All that was left to relatives in Manila were a Harvard mug, a model plane and a will that caused so much tension between two siblings.
He led a full life. He died with no regrets. I am not so sure if that is a good thing.
----------------------
After the service, we headed to Tito Romy's 70th birthday lunch at Little Asia in Morato. Food was good. I was seated beside the heavyweights, Vic, Kuya Jon, Jay-R and Euan. Tita Dely kept replenishing our table with food because they almost immediately disappear. As usual, Kris arrived late. I was afraid that there would be no food left for her.
Everyone was looking for Johann. We dropped him off at home knowing that the invitation indicated our names only. It turned out to be a good move on our part. The place was too crowded to tug along a toddler and a yaya.
-----------------------
With the balikbayans struggling with jet lag, it was decided to have dinner at the home base. Dinner was composed of tinolang manok, paksiw na lechon and tinapang bangus. It was the perfect time to catch up on stories. If only we had coffee.
The percolator was dug up from storage. While it was being cleaned, they got beans from Starbucks. The coffee addicts were ready to pull an all-nighter. We, on the other hand, left an hour and a half later.
The next day is a big day.
Comments
Just browsing your blog and saw your post about Tito Romy's 70th birthday...is this the same Tito Romy Gutierrez? He is my uncle from my father's side. ;)
Jeng