(Click on each picture to view the full image!)
A message from Nestor:
Since its inception, my siblings, Concepcion Mercado
Balasya, ’61, Elena Mercado Malacas, ’69, Myrna Mercado, ’71 and Alex Mercado,
’79 attended the Grand Reunion of St. Louis, held every five years. Coming from
these reunions, they related to me how momentous the occasions were, and how
satisfying it was to meet up with classmates of yesteryears.
They brought back pictures of the booths,
beautifully attended and decorated with warmth and inundated with epicurean
feasts beyond compare! Every batch tried to outdo each other, and the reunion
exuded the pride of being a Louisian. The only disappointment I had was that
the booth of Batch 59 was sparsely decorated, and sadder still, more sparsely
populated.
Because of selfish reasons, there was not much
impetus on my part to attend the reunion. But a miracle happened, when before
the Grand Reunion of 2010, our class, Batch 1959, celebrated our Golden Jubilee
in December, 2009. During that reunion, it opened up my eyes to the truth in
the saying, “Make new friends but keep the old. Those are silver, these are
gold.” Indeed, there are no better times in your senior years but to shoot the
breeze and relive the good deeds and the misdeeds of the past years in high
school.
We had one of the best, if not the best attended
Golden Jubilee in school history! From
the Philippine Niners, as we began to
call each other, the likes of Rey Miranda, Roy
Tamani, Lawrence Aliac, Jimmy
Magalued, Roger Tiongson, Fely Duro, Lina Tiongson
Purificacion, Olivia
Soberano Padre, Carmen Pacis Pasamonte, Zeny Favila Paladin,
Rogelio Suratos, Lily
Antonio Farinas, Lucio Galapon and Sister Theresine among
others, hosted the
“foreign” delegation consisting of Linda Garcia Espinosa, Leopoldo Aliac,
George Mamuric, Lydia Mercado Villanueva, Percival Tiongson, Rolando
Barrero,
Amelia Manlapig Tan, Tony Mendoza, Fely Abungan and the writer to the reunion.
We missed Priscilla Manriquez Gaines, Domingo
Gascon, Jean Parazo Padlan and Mely Urmaza Mamuric at this event. And since
that time, we have sadly seen our friends Paulino Bulosan, Baldwin Diego and
Remedios Aala depart from this earthly abode. And despite my efforts and the
help of Rol Barrero, I have not been able to contact Amor Salvador.
I was lucky enough to make it to the Grand Reunion in
2010. With the help of the Niners in the U.S., and also of
Rey Miranda, we donated the funds to help defray the expenses for our booth and
the food at the reunion. Attached are some pictures of that memorable day! We had a great time,
this time with excellent turnout at the booth and plenty of food to be
consumed. We also had, as a class, gone up to the stage, to proudly proclaim
that our Batch 59 had donated a nice sum of PhP350,000.00 towards the gymnasium
fund.
Unfortunately, the reunion being held on December 30
was a deterrent to better participation from the people residing in other
places. Traveling back to their homes on New Year’s Eve made people hesitant to
attend, so on my request, Monsignor Vic Tugadi, with the
help of the Alumni Coordinators, scheduled the event for December 27, 2015.
This is indeed, a great incentive for those outside of Solano to join us!
The next grand
Reunion is 15 months away. I beg you, my classmates, especially Priscilla
Manriquez, Domingo Gascon, Mely Urmaza Mamuric, Jean Parazo Padlan and the rest
of the niners to make it to Solano on that date. Your enjoyment and
exhilaration is guaranteed!(End of Nestor's Message)
_____________________
Other pictures:
Tony Mercado's Green Brigade:
That's all for now, folks!
No comments:
Post a Comment