Josefina R. Sablad

By: Melva Rodriguez-Java

The gift of a first-born

It was on March 19, 1940 when Josefina was born in Cebu City, Philippines. Our parents Remedios and Antonio promptly named their first-born after St. Joseph, the foster father of Our Lord Jesus Christ, whose feast day it was. She was to be the eldest in a brood of seven children: Melva, Cornelia, Antonio,Jr., Zenaida, Manuela and Mario.

Our parents fondly called her “Inday”, an endearing Visayan term given to a young girl. WW II hit the country when she was barely two years old, and her young legs struggled to keep up with Pa and Ma as the young family, now with a new baby, Melva, trudged the rugged hills to escape the invading Japanese soldiers. The long arduous trek badly bruised her feet, causing a foot to bloat from infection. Our parents recall that even at that tender age, Inday already knew how to bear pain.

Our “manang”

After liberation, she was sent to a public elementary school close to T. Padilla where Pa and Ma had managed to set up a simple house made of light materials. As was common practice then, the pupils were made to carry their own chairs to school, and so did Inday, to Papa’s consternation. Scraping up enough savings, our parents transferred Inday to Colegio de la Inmaculada Concepcion (CIC), a private school run by nuns, where I later joined her when I was ready for Grade One.

In 1948, Pa and Ma had enough savings to build a new house on M. Velez St. By then we had Cornelia and Antonio, Jr. added to the family. We were among the very few residents then, and it was there that Ma gave birth to three other siblings, Zenaida, Manuela and Mario. Inday was now “manang” or the eldest of the brood, and she early on felt she had to assume responsibility over the rest of us her younger siblings. That role she had taken on the rest of her life, looking after us, anticipating our needs, and generously sharing whatever goodies she had, which we would forthwith readily and happily grab. She was a clean house fanatic. She would dutifully clean up after the dirty tracks we would leave on the shiny floor. The house was so tidy from her daily cleaning that Ma nicknamed her “little duchess”. We shared wonderful childhood memories at our M.Velez home.

Settling down in the U.S.of A.

Some years after they got married, Inday and her husband Marciano decided to immigrate to the United States with all their children. That was a very brave decision. Most parents settled in first and sent for their families later. But Inday and Mar would have none of that and fully aware of the great sacrifice it would entail, they brought with them all five beautiful children: Ferdie, Marlo, Marianne, Anthony and Marky. Inday had the scare of her life when one little boy, Tonton vanished from her sight, only to be relieved upon recognizing the cries of her little boy coming from somewhere in the huge airport lobby. Inday promptly retrieved him and to make sure no one else would wander away, she tied each one, like cute little puppies, each with a belt to her waist.

Raising a big family while in the process of settling in a new country was a huge challenge which Inday and Mar took on without second thoughts. As a mother, she was passionate about her children, caring for and doting on them. As a wife, she served her husband diligently, looking after his needs, preparing his daily meals and readying his work clothes for him. She worked at the office by day, and did household chores by night, foregoing the full night’s rest which would have been so essential for her physical health and bodily regeneration.

Despite having her hands full looking after her family, she always thought about her younger siblings back in the Philippines and often sent gifts to them including her nephews and nieces. The unanimous impression they had of their Auntie Inday was one who was “so kind and generous”.

Reminiscing childhood joys

In the late ‘90s she and Mar decided to return to the Philippines to spend their retirement years there. Their beach house in Oslob town, like our parent’s home at M. Velez, had become the venue for many happy gatherings and reunions with family and friends with Inday hosting even her sibling’s own set of friends. Those were great times that gave us moments to reminisce our childhood years, giggling over the tricks we sometimes played on each other. We had agreed to live long like Pa and Ma, believing that we had inherited good genes for long life.

The Good Lord has decided that it is best to call her home now. And so our beloved Inday has left us in her physical presence. But we know that even as she is now home with the Lord, she is still caring for us and watching over us, because this was what she loved so much to do and she knew that we enjoyed basking in it.

In the evening of June 20, Our Lord reached out to tenderly hold her by her hands, the same hands that have for many years, rendered untiring and loving service to her husband and children, to us her family, to friends and even to strangers, and most of all to her God.