Arabella n Janairo

Arabella “Belle” Narvasa Janairo, 80, of Nashua, NH, passed away peacefully on Monday, August 22, 2022. Born on October 16, 1941, she was the daughter of the late Jose Javier Janairo and Rosario Narvasa in Dumaguete City, Negros Republic of the Philippines.

Arabella "Belle" Narvasa Janairo was born on October 16, 1941, daughter of Jose Javier Janairo and Rosario Narvasa Janairo in Dumaguete City, Negros, Republic of the Philippines.

As a child, she and her two brothers would spend their early childhoods on the family farm on the island of Sibay, Caluya, Antique, where she learned to love the Filipino “cowboy style” of farming.

Beginning in second grade, she was sent by her mother to live full-time, cloistered in a Roman Catholic Convent outside of Bacolod City for five years. She then entered high-school, graduating with a diploma from The Philippines Woman’s University High School, and continued her studies at University’s College where she graduated with a “Certificate in Secretarial Sciences”.

The children of Jose and Rosario all had the presence and talent to be movie stars, singers and models. Belle herself was selected by J. Walter Thompson advertising agency to be a model in the Philippines for the Ford automobile company, given the chance to experience that kind of attention. An avid reader she also wanted to be a writer in chronicling the history of the Janairo Family.

Belle’s first taste of international travel was shortly after her graduation, when she and her cousin took a 3 month cruise from the Philippines to the State of Hawaii, rejoining her parents in her father’s appointment by the Government to work in the Philippine Consulate.

There she met her first husband, and within a few years would gave birth to her elder son in 1965; later she would be in Los Angeles where she would give birth to her younger son in 1969.

After her divorce in 1974, Belle relocated to the City of Chicago, where in the two years following, she would now be a single mother rebuilding her life to support her sons, who at the time were living with her parents in the Philippines.

In her move there, she lived with her father’s brother, his wife and her immigrated cousins, and was shown a bit of the cosmopolitan social scene — Belle and her cousins would go out and have a good time enjoying the Windy City’s nightlife, including staying at the iconic Playboy Club.

She would eventually find full time work, while developing what would be a long standing on-off relationship with her second husband — including carrying the grief of the 3 lost pregnancies from that marriage.

Belle was a walking encyclopedia for the preparation and practice of serving food. She gained local acclaim and notoriety as an accomplished caterer, filling orders for Filipino delicacies such as Lumpia Shanghai (fried egg rolls), Pancit Noodles, Enseymada pastry rolls, and pineapple candied ham. Her dishes were the center spread of many large family gatherings for the holidays.

The Chicago Sun-Times daily newspaper showcased her culinary expertise in an article, specifically for her recipe for “Chicken Relleno”, a Filipino specialty, consisting of the meat of a de-boned whole chicken ground to sausage consistency, then mixed with whole raisins, peas, a hard-boiled egg and a Vienna sausage, then reformed within the intact skin into the shape of a chicken and steamed. A picture of her and her dish was prominently featured a top the article.

Seasonally commuting by foot, bus and train to work through harsh Chicago winters, Belle was an accomplished Customer Service Representative, regaled with numerous letters of praise from clients for her work for providing the hallmark of industry standards: the “One-Call Resolution”. She achieved this while both as an Employee Benefits Administrative Assistant at “FMC Corporation” and then later as a Loan Collector for “LaSalle Bank”, from where she retired in 2004.

In early 2005, Belle briefly relocated to Twenty-Nine Palms, California, to live with her younger son, who was stationed there as a United States Marine, his wife at the time and their young boy before she would proceed along with her elder son to the Las Vegas area. There she would join her younger brother and her two cousins.

Of her many dreams, Belle wanted to be an Army nurse. In this period of life, she had sacrificed her retirement to spiritually nurse her elder son by praying the rosary every night with him, due to his hospitalization in the psychiatric wing of a medical clinic. Later in 2011, she would physically nurse him after a second hospitalization, cleaning after him, bathing him and feeding him.

In 2013, her younger son would ask her to join his family in Okinawa to care for the new born baby girl of his second wife, who was suffering from cluster headaches at the time. Also, she would be the part-time live-in care giver to her retired friend from Chicago whenever visiting the Vegas area.

Upon first arriving to Las Vegas, for a short while, she became a caregiver to the elderly, before finally accepting a part-time position with Walgreens drug store in 2006. Again, she was commended for her work as an employee, honored as an “Employee-of-the Month” and featured in the company newsletter.

Before retiring from LaSalle Bank, she was honored for not only being excellent on the job but for her mothering nature, earning her the name “Mama Belle” for the ways she showed concern and care for her coworkers.

Belle’s life can be characterized by her hard work ethic. She would take overtime every time it was offered, even if it meant repeatedly and continuously working seven days a week. And she worked just as hard at home, cooking, cleaning, shoveling snow, walking to and from the grocery or laundry with her fold-up cart.

Very personable to all her relations, she made it her personal duty to actively reach out to distant — and distantly related — relatives and always prioritized she remembering everyone’s birthday.

Growing up she loved horses, swimming, playing tennis, and in Chicago would attend FMC company bowling night. It is known that she loved to play mahjong (a Chinese game made of marble blocks as cards). In her free time, Belle enjoyed going to the casinos and playing the slots machines. Thanks to her Mac, iPhone and iPad, she was able to keep up on the news, play her games and watch her many movies and TV shows, including the “Bachelor/Bachelorette” series, “Designated Survivor” and her dramas on The Filipino Channel. She enjoyed a good meal, and perhaps more than her fair share of a bottle of “2 Buck Chuck”.

Belle always proudly promoted her niece, model, actor and Emmy-award winning singer, Tia Carerre, eager to claim her aunthood relations. She met several celebrities in her life, including Neil Sedaka, David Soul, Flavor Flav, Matthew McConaughey, and Kevin Sorbo. She loved Elvis, Englebert Humperdinck, Susan Boyle and her favorite signer was Celine Dion, who she had the chance to see perform live when she first arrived to Las Vegas.

She also saw Blue Man Group, Barry Manilow, Journey (featuring Filipino signer Arnel Pineda) and VEGAS! The Show, a musical history of the Entertainment Capital of the World.

Throughout her life, Belle experienced normal health concerns such as high-blood pressure and diabetes. She also has emphysema from her years of smoking. However, Belle experienced a miraculous healing when both her desire for smoking and her emphysema vanished.

But in 2017, while helping her elder son down the stairs, Belle experienced a backward fall, landing on the sidewalk and suffering a hip injury, which required surgery and then first in-patient, and later out patient intensive physical therapy. As a result of this injury she would need the frequent use of a wheel chair and would walk with a cane for the rest of her remaining life.

In 2019, she began her first bout of stage three esophageal cancer, a cancer affecting the throat passage entering the stomach, going into remission. However, while in preparation for treatment, she was discovered to also have atrial fibrillation, a condition where the upper and lower chambers of her heart did not beat in synchronized order.

With both these conditions, she relocated to Arizona for a period of six week with undergo proton therapy treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix Arizona.

She relocated to Nashua, New Hampshire in late 2020 with her younger brother, to join her younger son, now retired from the Marine Corps and who was commissioned with a government contractor. Here she celebrated the hallmark of an 80th Birthday.

However, the cancer reemerged in early 2021. She would again undergo perpetual treatment on a periodic basis while also taking medication for her heart condition. At this stage, she was no-longer able to swallow solid foods, needing to have her meals specially prepared by Meals-On-Wheels and pureed.

Also complicating her condition was the slow but constant build-up of fluid in her lungs and at the bottom of her heart. Then she could only drink protein shakes and water. But what she took in, she threw up. Soon after, she could take neither, suffering the painful feeling of drowning due to fluid in her lungs and heart, and the pain from the muscles of her respiratory system constantly gagging and gurgling.

Through the illness filled later years of her life, she made many daily prayers and devotionals, seeking again miraculous salvation. She would anoint herself with holy water and recite prayers of healing, particularly from Fr. Rookey, whose healing mass she attended in Chicago, and Fr. Suarez, a renown healing priest from the Philippines. She wanted to visit the holy site of Lourdes and especially Medjugorje.

However, in the weeks leading to her passing, she would have consecutive Emergency Room visits, being admitted and re-admitted for treatment. The second would be on the day of a scheduled cancer treatment, and instead was admitted to St. Joseph’s Hospital where she had been treated locally for her ailments and primary care needs.

At this time she chose not to take her medication any more, succumbing to the fatigue of her age, her body and her illness. She did not eat. She did not drink. She could not breath.

And so, she made decided she could not go on, and chose to be admitted into hospice.

Belle perished in dignified rest and peaceful comfort at the age of 80 years old on Monday morning, August 22, 2022, at the quiet break of dawn.

And in her passing, may she be remembered as a child of God, and servant to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the many Saints she held devotion to and as the first beneficent to all those she helped in need.

Please pray for mercy on her soul, the forgiveness of her sins and beg that she be commended into Heaven where she may Rest In Peace with the Lord, the choir of Angels and Saints and be enjoined with the eternal mass of the Church Triumphant in Life Everlasting.

Belle stated that she wanted more time on Earth to continue her mission in life — In God’s name, only she knows if she achieved that Glory.

On August 30, 2022, she was cremated under the watch of both her sons, an appointed witnessed, the representative from Dignity Memorial entrusted to facilitate the cremation and the final graces of a beautiful blessing performed by a former nun, now a Christian Reverend.

Filipinos have a word: “Matibay” — A description used for a person who is exceptionally strong, resilient and durable. A proud classic Filipina of simple tastes but striking beauty, she is known for her giving heart and cheery positive personality, willing to act on behalf of others before herself — Belle embodied the word “Matibay” in the suffering of the challenges of her life-long scars and her daily silent sacrifices.

In Filipino tradition, it is a common practice to mourn for the duration of one year, symbolized by the perpetual wearing of black. It was Belle’s wish however that those attending her Memorial wear white. Please remember her whenever by chance you happen to do so.

Her Instagram account remains active: @MadameBee9.

If you would like to share any thoughts or memories, please post them there or at the forever missed link posting this memorial.

Belle is immediately survived by her younger brother Alexander, her two sons Augustine and Andrew, her grandson Ayuki, and two grand daughters Arabella and Isabella — all grandchildren from her younger son.

She is also remembered by her son’s two cats Goma and Lala, all her living relations and friendships whose lives were touched by her immediate presence, the reach of her loving posterity, those she went out of her way to help, and her second husband Anmosel.

At her stead, she joins her Father Jose, her Mother Rosario, her elder Brother Aleghiere, a still born Younger Brother Abraham, Andres her first husband and father to Augustine and Andrew, her many relatives and friends passing from this mortal plane, and the souls of her lost children.