Enrico Ilog Villaluz

It is with extremely heavy, broken hearts that we announce the passing of our beloved husband, father and grandfather Enrico "Essie" Villaluz. Essie passed away peacefully in the early hours of November 29th, 2014 after a short, but incredibly brave and valiant battle with cancer.

Essie is survived by his wife of 40 years, Catherine, their daughters Brandee Foster, her husband Mark and son Quentin, and Amber Schellenberg-Allison, her husband Jim Allison, and their children Kalysta, Ivory, Geoffrey and Emily.

He is also survived by his siblings Nhadee, Neory, Nida, Grace, Haydee, Ireez, Jhenny, Lorgee and Mark and their families as well as many, many other family and friends. He is predeceased by his parents Antonio and Virginia Villaluz and his brothers Angelo, Caesar and Kaiser.

Essie was born in Naic, Cavite, Phillipines on May 14th, 1952 as the fifth of thirteen children born to Antonio and Virginia Villaluz. He spent his childhood and teenage years there before moving to Hawaii at the age of 18. It was in Hawaii that he met and fell in love with Catherine, who happened to be vacationing there with friends at the time. After realizing that they were meant to be together, he moved to Canada to start their life together in 1975. They spent the first few years of married life living in Vancouver, and moved to Abbotsford when their first daughter, Brandee, was born.

Essie got a job with the City of Abbotsford as a surveyor, and spent his entire career there, retiring in 2007 after 30 years. Essie was involved for many years with the Lions Club, as well as being a member of the St. Ann's parish. He was also involved in a Filipino-Canadian group, was a volunteer for the Heart and Stroke Foundation and was a member of many bowling and pool leagues over the years. Essie loved sports and was a die-hard fan of the Vancouver Canucks. He loved to watch football, MMA and boxing, and was always up for checking out the latest and greatest action flicks.

Essie was a devoted and dedicated family man who loved his wife and daughters very much and would do anything for them. He took immense pride in his role as Lolo to his grandchildren and had very special relationships with each of them. He loved to play sports, jump on the trampoline, and play tag and hide and seek with them, just to name a few things. He loved music and was a rock and roller all the way. He played the drums and guitar and loved to sing and dance, especially for the kids.

Even the diagnosis of cancer didn't quell Essie's spirit. He accepted it as a part of the plan and helped the rest of us to do the same. It was aggressive though, and took him from us far too fast.

Please join us for mass to remember Essie's life on Saturday, December 6, 2014 at 11:00 a.m. at St. Ann's Catholic Church, 33333 Mayfair Ave. and a reception following the mass. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Canadian Cancer Society, the Heart and Stroke Foundation, the Abbotsford Hospice Society, or your favourite charity in his memory. We want to thank everyone for their love and kindness towards our family during this difficult time.