[Oe List ...] When the Saints Go Marching In

[Jaime R Vergara]

Mary Lou, my "dalao po" (primal spouse) in Zhongwen,just caught up with the Frank-Ellery-Carol march of the saints.  She sent me an alert. 
 
This week, one of four friends on survival mode post-chemoparted with her oxygen tank at 81.  Wewrote of her three years ago in Saipan when she was given three-to-six monthsof breathing space.  I was also making myadieu.  We said then: "This ismy penultimate submission for this year. My valedictory article(s) will come next week.  After that, should I ever pick up on doingsocial commentary again, it will surely be in honor and in the fearlesstradition of Ruth L. Tighe, On My Mind!  Thankyou, Ruth, and let the 'goodbyes' comewhen they come!"
 
She took her time (wrote her last OnMy Mind column turned blog Friday). So did I.  Am still hacking myOpEd pieces for the same daily.
 
Frank and Aimee are inseparable, in our recollection - Aimee thesoft-spoken spokesperson, and Frank the brooder and bold strategist.  We needed a building in Sudtonggan's trainingcenter, especially after the staff house burned down.  Frank passed the word down from Manila that money was never the problem.  With Qing On ofHong Kong, we convinced a Chinese lumberman in Cebu City to advance all thematerials we needed to construct a "log house".  We got the building up in a jiffy.  Dick Alton settled our account.  Later, Frank planned to shed a few pounds off his Texas-size girth,and did so in three months.  I rememberedthis when I heard of Frank's passing; responded with a weight watch of my own inhis memory!
 
Ellery and Tony are a duo in my ITI and Davao pictures of them.  Ours was a fellowship of levity andgaeity.  The cerveza de San Miguel was a help but the comaraderie came naturally.  Jon was mostly Kemper, and Debra,Sudtonggan.  They were family, especiallyTony's booming "Arriva!Arriva!" all the way to the barrio of Sol de Septiembre!  We located Tres Equis in China this week and downed the brew for theElizondos.
 
One can't remember Carol without recalling Joe as well.  Joe on discontinuity in the Seoul ITI of '72, nursed a tumbler at the bar while listening to Neil Diamondcroon, "I am, I said, to no one there!"  I dusted my vinyl the first day I got back toManila, and immediately moved in to the Manila House when it became obvious Iwas not valued just for my ecclesiastical connection.  Serendipitously, we moved in the same dayMarcos declared martial law, so Mary Lou was with Caucasians, and I decided notto throw away my green card, just in case.
 
It must have been the spring of '82 when I decided to proceed to theGuardians' meeting at Kemper, extending a trek from Majuro to Honolulu sincethe additional cost was a bargain.  I'bumped' into Carol and Joe Crocker at O'Hare, and asked where they were headed(thought they were on a development trip). Carol smiled me to breakfast, and announced the Panjayat's sense thatI might visit my mother-in-law, then come to Kemper after the weekend.  Majuro calledin panic.  Someone speculated on the damage I might cause if my tongue wagged loose on tender ears who have contributed much of their life savings to ourproject's economic debacles.
 
In her characteristic charm and power of persuasion, Carol cut me by theballs without my feeling pain.  In fact,when she and Joe drove me to Sandwich, Illinois where mother-in-law lived, Iended up the apologetic, self-effacing, grateful Asian, for their time and attention.  I spent a week at Kemper later, watching W. Marshall J. meticulously finesse to perfection and some, the global film.
 
That was the year Mary Lou and I took our sabbatical at a local church in Guam.  Frank and Aimee sent usout over lunch and wished us health when we returned.  I am not sure where the Elizondos werethen.  Four years later, I would pen inSudtonggan another farewell reflection (with a few other stragglers left behindwhen the Cebu House moved across the channel to the City).  We never seem to get our memoirs of theOrder's last '84-'88 quadrennium before oblivion beyond poetry of goodwill and veiledself-congratulations.  Maybe we shouldromp on the O of ORID without apology or remorse, if we still can.
 
Summer 2010, I overnighted at Kemper, said "Ni Hao" (You Good) to Terry, Marge, Mary Laura, andtheir crew, and exorcised any remaining demons that may still bedevil us.
 
In sentiment, I am with Joe Pierce: "I am, I said, to no one there ..."  But Carol was never shy in factuallyarticulating the truth, as she saw it. We found her candor and lucidity refreshing and healing.
 
For now, we join Frank, Ellery, and Carol in the parade.  Their goose steps are also our own.


j'aime la vie


Yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today, participate. In all, Celebrate!
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