Agustin grew up in the Philippines, and during the occupation of the Philippines by the Japanese in WWII, Agustin and his family fled for safety, along with many others from the city, into the mountains. He became ill with malaria while in the mountains, but luckily at that time the Americans had helped take control back of the island. As a troop of American soldiers passed by everyone who had sought safety, one of the soldiers noticed that Agustin was sick, and gave him medicine to survive. Agustin was so thankful to the G.I. that from that day forward he would always say, and believe that Americans were good people.
When it was time to go to college, Agustin went to the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, Philippines to study medicine. His intention was to study law and become a lawyer, but his love of chemistry is what made him change his major. It was in one of his Chemistry classes that he met his wife, Esmeralda. After he graduated they eloped in 1950 and were married in Manila, just five years after WWII. During their marriage they had five children and moved to many places when he applied to become a civilian personnel for the United States Air Force and Army branches as a doctor.
Although Agustin was known to be quiet by his children, he taught them many lessons in life. Once when the family was living in Okinawa, Japan, he decided to teach his kids how to swim. They went to the beach during a low tide for a swimming lesson where he showed them how to float, dunk their heads under water, and then they walked over to a small patch of beach far from the main beach. As Agustin watched his children playing on the small patch of beach and water, the kids did not notice that he had walked back towards the main beach. When the high tide started to come, the kids were surprised to see him waving at them from afar! He made sure the water level was still safe enough for them to show him what they had learned at swimming.
Agustin was a modest man and so proud of his profession and being able to help others. He had applied for citizenship to the United States when he became a civilian personnel, and was sponsored by a hospital in the United States to move to Michigan ahead of the long waiting period.
The family moved to a small town in Michigan where Agustin opened up his own practice and served the small community into his 60’s. The community was thankful to have a doctor that helped so many be saved and treated well. Agustin was so beloved by friends and family in the town that they would often show their appreciation by bringing him and the family pies, fresh vegetables and jams from their farms; there was always something at their doorstep. He was a doctor that showed the love of his profession by taking the time to know each patient and not just patch them up real quick to move onto the next person, he would ask questions to make everyone feel comfortable and safe.
Agustin was an honest and moral man, and one strange experience he had at a telephone booth proved it. Back before cell phones, when telephone booths were everywhere, Agustin put a quarter into the telephone slot, and suddenly tons of quarters started to fall out from the bottom of the phone! Some people might just have grabbed a bucket and filled it up with all the quarters to take home, but Agustin dialed up the operator and explained to her the situation; and he actually waited in the booth until the phone company could come by to pick up all of the quarters.
After living and working in Michigan for many years, the family moved to a small town in Southwest, Texas where Agustin practiced medicine well into his 90’s. One of Agustin’s favorite things to do was play golf, and he loved to cross country travel in the United States with Esmeralda; even if it was just trip together to medical conventions, or one of their favorite cities, San Francisco. They loved to find great places to eat wherever they went and found so many gems on their road trips, and Las Cruces was one city that he and Esmeralda would always find delicious food. Even though Esmeralda cooked at home, after 70 years of marriage he knew which buttons to push to tease her, and joking about her cooking was one of them! His favorite meal was steak, he was a steak man through and through, but he also had a fondness of his mother’s Filipino chicken ginger rice soup. Agustin loved steak so much, that after coming out of ICU the nurses tried to give him pudding to eat, but he said “No! Where is the meat? I want my meat!”
Agustin had quite a life journey, but he was lucky to have worked in a profession he loved, to be married to Esmeralda for 70 years, and to have fathered five children; Fides, Aniel, Gus, Abel, and Mia. He will be remembered by his family and of all those people whose lives he helped heal and met along the way.
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