By Sarla Ferrer-Duller and Emelda Frange-Valcarcel
The Golden Jubilarians raise a toast during their reunion.
Memory … just like the famous song from the Broadway musical Cats, the Central Philippine University (CPU) College of Nursing class of 1969 AKA the 69ers, dreamed of the old days and remembered that life was beautiful then as they commemorated their Golden Jubilee from February 7 to 12, 2019. Attended by 25 69ers and some 12 husbands, the class reunion was celebrated in the provinces of Iloilo and Antique, and in six different venues: CPU; Iloilo Mission Hospital (IMH); Tambaliza/Pan de Azucar Island in Concepcion, Iloilo; Dingle, Iloilo; San Jose, Antique; and Pavia, Iloilo.
Day Three – 09 February 2019. Dingle, Iloilo
At 9:00 AM the group assembled once again in front of the CPU Administration Building, and thirty minutes later they were ready to rock-n-roll abroad the same rented vans. Dingle, here we come! Zenaida (Zeny) Coshiaosue (aka Coshiao) and husband Ramilo Tadeo, both natives of Dingle, hosted the third day of festivities. Zeny and Ramilo migrated to the US and came home to Dingle for good after their retirement from Michigan. The RZ mansion was well appointed claiming its rightful space in the middle of a vast real estate surrounded by verdant shrubs, various flowering plants, productive fruit-bearing trees, coconut trees, and all sort of vegetables. Seemed like everything was in its proper place, Bahay-Kubo included. So neatly-organized.
The ambiance in the designated reunion area was totally festive. The flower arrangement, blue and yellow table covers, skirted chairs blended well with the tarp welcoming the Golden Jubilarians! When the two vans carrying the 69ers came, the classmates who decided to drive ahead were already nibbling on the mixed nuts provided in each table. The catered food was gastronomically scrumptious! The selections were all “must try”. The desert station was filled with Ilonggo sweets we all longed to eat! Oh well, broken promises about dieting continued!
After lunch, the temperature outside was rising, so uncharacteristic of early February. After everybody had their fill, the ladies decided to go inside the main house to cool off, and the gents ignored the warm weather over bottles of bear.
As planned, it was time to play for the young ones or was it for the once young? Sarla Ferrer-Duller led a retro childhood game, called Papel-Gunting-Bato. The game was a remake with totally different and laugh-igniting gestures representing the papel, or gunting, or bato. Everybody seemed to remember the objective of the game and how it was played. This time, it was a battle between Class 69 section A and Section B. Standing back to back, the two players, one from each section and 20 pesos at stake, the onlookers chanted PIK-PIK-PAPEL-GUNTING-BATO at which time the two players simultaneously faced each other with a predetermined action representing one of the three elements. The room was filled with child-like screams, and boisterous laughter until every 69ers present had played, and the ultimate winner-take-all, Edith Villaruz, garnered all the 20 pesos from each contestant to the tune of 220 pesos.
Daday led the next game. More like a Q and A, like who among the classmates were free of any maintenance meds yet? Who had the most grandkids? Who still had the primary dentition (no bridges, no caps, no dentures) among others. The gag prizes were conversation pieces! Some prizes came all the way from Hawaii, compliment of Edith Villaruz. Before long, it was time to disband (sigh).