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Updated Dec. 16, 2008, 6:10  PM

FELIX KATO'

(Nov. 1944 - Feb., 2008)

(Felix del Rosario)

Extremadura, a place teeming with children's activities in the 1950's.  Yes, lots of children, including me.  I spent my toddler days and very young days in Extremadura.  Extremadura is actually a street that intersects 2 other streets - Lepanto and Galicia (I have to check).  When my relatives on the father side talks about Extremadura, it is the "del Rosario" compound.  The compound was there before Rizal's time and was owned originally by the family of Elisa Ponce de Leon, my father's first wife.  After Elisa's death leaving 6 children, my dad married my mom and I'm the only child.

At that time, I played with Felix Kato'.  He was my nephew but 1 year older than me.  We would play around the compound which is quite a large area.  Our favorite game was the "Flores de Mayo."  Becky, Dodoy, Ting-ting and Telly, ate Mameng's children;  Felix, Bing-bing, Medy and Louie, kuya Tony's children; Joji, Ate Bading's only son and I, the youngest child of my dad; would play and emulate the "Flores de Mayo."  Believe it or not, the "Reyna Elena" was Felix Kato'.  We would gather "gumamelas"(hibiscus flower) and other flowers and adorn Felix Kato' with them.  We used a towel as his cape.

Then, when the little boys got bored of playing with the little girls.  They would climb up to the roof of kuya Tony's kitchen and stand side by side by the corrugated aluminum eaves.  Felix Kato' as the kapural (leader), they would have a contest - who could pea the farthest.

I would then later move to a new house my mom and dad built and named to me when I was 7 years old.  Ting-ting missed me and would visit but I was probably quite nasty and playful that she complained that I wasn't nice.  Felix Kato' would visit me often.  Felix Kato' would ride the jeepney quite a ways from Extremadura just to play with me.  We were very close as aunt and nephew and as playmates.  We ran all over the neighborhood and our favorite place was the "aratilis" tree along the adobe fence of the Quezon Institute.  Quezon Institute was a tuberculosis sanitarium. 

The "aratilis" tree abounds with sweet and colorful fruit.  Felix Kato' would climb the tree and I will open my skirt to catch the fruits as he picked and dropped them.  We would eat those fruit with relish.  They're just 1 centimeter round with thin peels. 

Before puberty, I was taller than Felix Kato' but when Felix reached 13 years he shot up so fast I got to look up to talk to him.  My neighbor Aling Banang was scandalized because he thought Felix Kato' was my boy friend.

After my mother died in 1957, I didn't see Felix much.  In 1961 was my first date and my dad paid Felix Kato' twenty pesos to watch me.  So, Felix Kato' sat on the swing all night and watched me dance the mash potato.  Before the party, Felix Kato' and I were practicing how to dance  the mash potato with wooden clogs.  It was so noisy but no one in Extremadura complained.

Sometime in 1962, when my dad remarried for the third time to a 23 year old Bikolana named Claring, I had to move with Felix Kato' and his family.  I was welcomed with open arms by kuya Tony, Ate Teresa and the children - Felix Kato', Bing-bing, Medy, Louie, Belen, etc.  There were 7 children and the 8th one is me.  Felix would like to wrap himself with my white bed sheet and pretended that he was Cleopatra with all the make-up - that would really irritate me.  One day, he wore my dress and I blew  it. 

I and Felix would dress up Medy for the "Chito's dance time."  We love to see Medy dance on TV.  We made her pretty party dresses and we spent all night gluing  rhinestones on her dress.

 

 

One day, Felix Kato' and I decided to clean all the bed linens and one very dirty mattress.  We dragged the mattress to the cemented patio, hosed it down and scrubbed it with soap and water.  After we cleaned the mattress, it got very, very heavy but we have to dry it.  We decided to dry the mattress on top of the roof.  I and Felix Kato' tied the mattress with heavy rope and used a post as a pulley.  We spent the whole day hauling the mattress up the roof.  When we finally got the mattress on the roof, we lay it down really flat to let it dry under the hot tropic sun.  We left the mattress on top of the roof and forgot it.  It dried but got drenched again by the rain.  Then, we just forgot about the mattress.

Every holy week, during the Pabasa, I and Felix would read the book of the Passion of Christ really fast.  Felix would read page 1 and I would read page 2 simulteniously and get to read lot more pages than everybody else.  My sister, Librada was very pleased with us because we read more pages during the all night stand pabasa.

When my father died, kuya Tony built a big house in the suburbs of Manila.  He sent Felix Kato' to Spain to study.  Unluckily, Felix Kato' didn't do well in Spain and after 10 years he returned to the Philippines.  He wrote me one time asking me to be his majordomo - head maid.  I thought he was joking.  I didn't return the letter because of no valid reason whatsoever.

Last week, Felix Kato' died of emphysema.  I was stunned and can't cry.  It's been such a long time.  I found out that Ate Teresa, my best friend and sister-in-law died 4 years ago.  Kuya Tony died the following year maybe because of a broken heart.  He loved Ate Teresa so much.  Last year Kuya Beloy and Jimmy, my nephew-in-law died, too .  Ate Garing died before everybody else.  She died of Parkinson's disease. 

The days are going one by one and day and night pass each other.  There's a time for each and everyone of us.  Tears will be shed in this vale of tears but memories will linger forever.

I LOVE YOU FELIX KATO'.  WHEREVER YOU ARE, WAIT FOR ME AND WE WILL PLAY AGAIN IN EXTREMADURA UP IN THE SKY.

p.s. Kato' means gofer.  You can ask Felix to wash your clothes, clean your house, cook you food. etc. and he will do it for you; that's why we call him

FELIX KATO'.

 

Goodbye Erwin Conrad!!!

Sometime in October 29, 2008, I learned from Lorrina that Linda called from Springfield, Illinois.  Erwin, linda's father has just died.  My family and Erwin's family had been very close in Chicago while Lorrina and Linda were little.  We were together every week helping the girls perform Hawaiian dances mostly at the Mosanic Temple events.  Annette (Agnes Sese),  Erwin's wife was the worthy matron of the Hellenic Order of the Eastern Star Chapter of Masonic Lodge in Chicago.  In addition, Annette had connection with the City of Chicago Public Schools that made us very busy. 

Erwin was always there and never missed any performance.  He would carry the costumes, set the props and help with the music.  During his free time, he would retire to his favorite place, Wood Haven in Amboy, Illinois.  Often, my family would hung out with him there while he set bon fire all day and night, smoke and drink beer.  We celebrated lots of birthdays in Wood Haven as well in Chicago.  This was sometime 1984 to 1989.

Erwin gave me away when I and Thomas got married at the Our Lady of Mercy church in Chicago.

 

 

Remembering Erwin Conrad!!!

 

                                                                                                                           Erma                Erwin                 Gerda                     Aunt Yvonne          Uncle Richard

 

          

                                                            Erika                         Erwin                                                                                        Erika's Wedding

 

                       At campsite in Indiana                                                                               Nov., 1982                                              at the trailer in Wood Haven

 

                                                              September, 1982 - airport in California        Linda, Erwin & Lorrina during Alfred's Wedding to Lisa.