Celso Torres Roxas

Celso “Jonjie” Roxas Jr. was born in Manila Philippines on December 5, 1970, to his parents Norma Torres, and Celso Roxas Sr. He had four siblings, Jose Ramon Benjamin, Celso, Preciosa “Baby” Almendares , and Lawrence Roxas. He attended ElementarySchool and High School in Divine Word Academy of Dagupan, where he graduated Class of 87’. He graduated from Virgen Milagrosa University with a Bachelor’s degree in Medical Technology class of 1992.

After he graduated from college, he worked in Philippine Airlines. During this period of his life, he met the love of his life, Melanie Roxas, who is a registered nurse. They had their civil marriage in December 1995 and they had their church marriage in March 1996. On January 23, 1997, they had their first child, Christian Matthew Roxas. During this time, he began working for Northwest Airlines. I have two other siblings, They are Czean Mikhaela (16) and Cyrene Moira (13) and they were born here in the U.S.

My Dad Celso had always dreamed of moving to the United States. And in 2003, he made that dream come true. He, his wife, and his son moved here to start a new life. He worked in Devonshire Oaks as a business office manager from 2005-2007. He then moved to Torrance, California in 2007, and started work in Americare, as a marketing representative. He then started to work in Harbor Care as a Community Relations in 2008. Also in 2008, he began to work as a Clinical Laboratory Scientist in Little Company of Mary, where he worked seven years, and afterwards, he moved to Torrance Memorial Medical Center, where he worked for the remainder of his years.

My Dad Celso was a very kind and optimistic man. He found joy in the simplest of things, especially in making others happy. He had various interests such as magic, playing drums, guitar, piano, dancing, singing.

Aside from this, he had been interested in martial arts, particularly Jiu Jitsu. He had been in Jiu Jitsu for almost four years, and had earned the degree of blue belt. He felt that this was his greatest achievement considering that he is already in his 50’s. His love for Jiu Jitsu was influenced by the Great Royce Gracie. My dad adopted this discipline through his life and in fact documented his love for Jiu Jitsu in YouTube which was entitled “Jiu Jitsu Daddict” meaning “Jiu Jitsu Addict” and “Dad”.

In Summary, my Dad was a simple person who loves his family very much, laughs and enjoys simple things. He always walks a step behind to let others shine. He values friendship so much that he never forgets to say hi or hello to his friend if there is an occasion. Dad you left us so soon and suddenly, you have gone too soon, but you will never be forgotten.