Flora Santos Taguinod

Flora (“Flor”) Baens Santos was born in Manila, Philippines on October 26, 1944. Flor was the youngest of six children of Amado Santos and Emilia Baens. She grew up amidst a busy family running Santos and Baens Laboratory which produced the health supplement Santos Enriched Tiki-Tiki after WWII to meet the need for vitamin B at that time. Flor’s parents used their earnings to invest in real estate. Since they did not spend much money, Flor and her sisters shared the same clothes and accessories; and even learned how to sew their own clothes. Flor’s sister remembers that in their family, Flor was the most attentive in cleaning the house, always making the house tidy and presentable.

Flor attended primary school at Cecilio Apostol Elementary School in Manila and Orani Bataan Elementary School in Orani. She went to high school at University of Santo Tomas (UST), Manila. At UST, she was a member of the Reading Circle, Pax Romana, and Forensic Circle. Her yearbook motto was “Put your best foot forward always.” She started university classes at UST but soon transferred to Mapua Institute of Technology in Manila. This must have been fate as she met her future husband Rolando (“Rollie”) Gatan Taguinod at Mapua. Flor’s Mapua yearbook lists her activities there as: Vice President MIT Student Catholic Action, BA Council 1964; Assistant Treasurer BA Pioneers Club 1963; Member of Junior Philippine Institute of Accountants, MIT Chapter 1964-66. She graduated from college in 1966 with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a major in Accounting.

Flor met her husband Rollie in 1962 at Mapua. Rollie was a student at Mapua and one day he walked by the Student Catholic Action meeting room and a pretty girl in there caught his eye. His friend said he knew where she lived and they went to visit her unannounced the next day. Flor always said she was embarrassed that day because they came when she was cleaning the house. After a few months of outings chaperoned by her brother Adi, they were allowed to start dating. Rollie graduated and got a job working at Angat Dam two hours away. He took a bus back to Manila every weekend just to see Flor.

In 1967, Rollie was recruited by The Boeing Company in Seattle, Washington. He immediately asked Flor to marry him so that Boeing would pay for her to go to America with him. They had a quick civil ceremony in May 1967 to get the marriage certificate to send to Boeing, and had an official church wedding in January 1968.

Within months, they flew to America to begin their new life together. Over the years, Flor and Rollie were blessed with three daughters: Emily (52), Olive (50), and Lisa (41); and six grandsons: David (25), Ben (24), Chris (23), Josh (21), Marty (14), and Josiah (5).

After Flor graduated from college, her first job was working as a bank teller at Philippine Savings Bank. Once she started her life with Rollie in Seattle, she worked at Pacific Northwest Bell (which later became US West Communications, and then Qwest). She had a long 35 year career at the phone company working in different customer service and field technical support positions before happily retiring with a full pension and numerous service awards. Flor’s co-workers threw her a retirement party attended by her family.

After their youngest daughter Lisa left the nest, Flor and Rollie enjoyed traveling with their “Friday Circle” friends on annual trips. They went on many cruises and vacations around the world including in Egypt, Denmark, Spain, Morocco, Greece, Netherlands, and Russia. Flor always brought back souvenirs for her daughters from these trips. During these years, Flor also enjoyed watching the number of grandkids grow. She loved to hold and cuddle the babies and would even try to carry them when they were not “babies” anymore. She let them play and run all over the house. She liked to mark their heights on the dining room wall with the day’s date and name of each grandson year after year.

In 2008, Flor retired from work at the age of 63 and enjoyed an active and full life in retirement. Flor traveled with her daughter Olive going to places she had never been like Beijing, Graceland in Memphis, and New York. She regularly Facetimed with daughter Lisa and grandsons in Florida. She and Rollie also frequented Florida to stay with Elisa several times a year; and looked forward to Lisa and the boys’ regular visits filling the house with chatter. She had weekly lunch outings with her daughter Emily shopping, visiting points of interest like museums, and riding transit for fun. Her sister Eppie, niece Wena, and nephew Gerry lived nearby for many years. A consummate travel planner, Wena took them on many fun road trips and travel excursions. Flor was also very active online with her UST high school batchmates, keeping up with them through email, Facebook, and attending reunions. She was really looking forward to the UST reunion cruise next year.

In retirement, Flor loved to practice her favorite piano pieces and even became a YouTuber, teaching herself how to research a good camera set up, record, and upload videos of herself playing piano then checking to see how many views she got. She was excited to watch Seahawks and Mariners games on TV. Flor loved celebrity gossip, biographies, and people watching. Whenever she came across an actor or singer she liked, or someone in the news, she would Google them and read the whole Wiki article and any other information she could find about them. At all hours of the day she enjoyed playing her favorite FreeCell Solitaire game which she was obsessively addicted to. Emily asked her a few years ago, “Mom, when was the happiest time of your life?” and she replied “Right now”.

After Rollie retired in 2017 at the age of 75, they happily enjoyed their routines together. They went to the gym and the library every morning. They enjoyed going to Southcenter Mall almost every day to walk, eat in the food court, watch movies, and would frequently bump into friends there. They joined a bowling league and for several years, went bowling every day. They spent almost all of their time together, but still kept track of each other’s location on their iPhones. Rollie and Flor celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 2018 with a reunion of the whole family and a nice dinner in downtown Bellevue.

With Covid restrictions in the last year, Rollie and Flor’s routine was more peaceful and relaxing. Every morning they went to Starbucks then drove to Gene Coulon. Rollie would sit in the car and read the newspaper while Flor walked around Gene Coulon. Flor was very proud of her health and fitness. She loved watching the turtle families sitting on a log in the water, baby ducks growing up with their mother, and views of Mt. Rainier on clear days.

Flor enjoyed keeping all of the household things in order, everything stocked and uncluttered, and bills and files managed efficiently. Rollie said Flor was well organized. She reminded him of their appointments and when to take their medicines. She provided detailed instructions on how to sort the garbage and program the TV. She reminded Rollie of lots of things, but he doesn’t remember what else she reminded him to do all the time.

Emily, Olive, and Lisa love to share and treasure the countless memories and stories of their wonderful Mom. Providing hard life lessons and valuable discipline, encouraging assertiveness and independence, providing insightful guidance and support even through the brattiest phases. Without spoiling her daughters, she sacrificed selflessly to support their needs and dreams. Flor had a special sixth sense about shopping for the individual and unique styles of each of her daughters.

Flor loved creatures. Rollie even gave her a guinea pig when they were dating in the Philippines. She spoiled her cat “Tabby” who lived for 19 years and hissed at everyone except her. Flor loved to cuddle her daughter Lisa’s dogs, and catsit for Olive. She enjoyed watching birds and rabbits that came into the yard. If she found a spider in the house, she would release it outside.

Friends and family frequently describe Flor as “beautiful, kind, gentle, thoughtful, calm, graceful, sweet, charming, warm, and friendly.” She was also strong and independent, assertive when needed, and did what she wanted when she wanted. As her nephew Gerry says, “Tita Flor is a gentle soul but if she feels someone is taking advantage of her, she will not back down!”

Flor (“Ny”, “Mom”, “Tita Flor, Lola Flor”) was an amazing woman and there are not enough words to describe how much she meant to her family and friends. She will be dearly missed.

Flor is survived by her husband Rolando Taguinod (Renton, Washington); and her older brother the artist Pablo Baen (“Adi”) Santos (Manila, Philippines) and her older sister Eppie Zafra (Renton, Washington).