Remedios A Estolano

Remedios Mactal Andres Estolano was born on November 4,1932 in the farming town of Muñoz in Nueva Ecija, the Rice Granary of the Philippines. Her father was a farmer and a seasonal kutsero in Tondo, Manila, and her mother was a housewife. She grew up with seven siblings. She received her Associate of Arts in Education at the College of the Republic in San Jose, Nueva Ecija. In 1952, she married her darling, Claude, with whom they had five children: Cynthia, Rey, Jesse, John, and Grace. For more than 20 years, she worked as an elementary school teacher in various locations in Muñoz, before migrating to the U.S. in 1980 with her family. They lived in Union City and later moved to Watsonville, CA. Remedios fondly regarded her time in Watsonville, where she lovingly worked in green houses that grew orchids and roses. Her family moved to San Jose in the mid-1980s where she then worked in a start-up electronic company before retiring in 1996. After retirement, she traveled the world with her husband, going to places like Europe and Mexico. Almost every other year, she and her husband would go back home to the Philippines, where she enjoyed going to the palengke, meeting old friends, or inviting tricycle drivers to eat with them in Jollibee. Some momentous events in her life include her role as Royal Matron of the International Order of the Amaranth Muñoz Royal Court No.17, and as Queen of Muñoz in its annual Wag-Wag Christmas celebration. She enjoyed the company of all her eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, especially on Christmas, when all grandkids delightedly received a money envelope from her! Her health and memory started to decline after the passing of her husband, Claude, in 2018. She became more reclusive and stayed in the Masonic Homes where she received the utmost care. Sadly, she spent the last couple of months in the hospital due to a stroke and was later moved to a post-acute facility until her passing in the

early morning of September 24, 2025. She outlived her five brothers and two sisters. One day, her eldest child, Cynthia rummaged through the contents of her mom’s personal boxes and found a small notebook. The notebook held Remedios’ last entry that was written in a beautiful cursive: “My dear husband was not able to say goodbye to me..."