Magdalena completed her training in Nursing at Iloilo Mission Hospital. In the Philippines, she worked as a public health nurse at first in a rural area called Lemery, where she often rode on horseback to reach her patients. Then the family moved to Iloilo, where she worked at Iloilo Provincial Hospital. In that time, she delivered over 200 babies. In the US, she worked in the psychiatric ward at Ravenswood hospital in Chicago.
Magdalena believed in the power of education as the key to a better life. As the oldest of 7 children, she saw first hand how the completion of her nursing degree contributed to the future educational possibilities of her siblings, and how each success eased the burden for helping the next sibling. Magdalena’s success began a domino effect whereupon all 5 of her younger sisters went on to become nurses and her brother, the youngest, completed a degree in Commerce. Throughout her life, she financed the educations of over 40 individuals in the Philippines just as her father had done. In 2011, she moved back to the Philippines to develop educational opportunities for children on Nasidman island, where she spent much of her time tutoring young children in reading and arithmetic.
Magdalena had a strong faith in Jesus. She was an active member of North Shore Baptist Church in Chicago, and taught Sunday school at Filipino Immanual Baptist Church of Chicago, and again on Nasidman island, when she moved back to the Philippines in 2011. Throughout her time in Chicago, she hosted many bible studies in her home. She avidly read the bible and enjoyed discussions having to do with what it means to be a Christian.
She is well remembered for her infectious laugh. She loved God, her husband, her children and grandchildren, and her extended family, and she cared deeply about the Philippines.
Magdalena is survived by her children Althea, Magdalena, Lester, and Gene, and her grandchildren Terrence, Isabella, and Kenton. Her surviving siblings are Lolita, Josephine, Delia, Bastiana, and Salvacion.
We want to give special thanks to all those who helped take care of mom in her final days, but a big thanks to Auntie Cate, who remained by mom’s side and showed me and my siblings how to bathe and turn someone who is bedridden.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18