We Are Family
You know how special our coming together as a class can be! Then we encourage you to join us and experience renewing old friendships and old acquaintances become friends! Pencil-in, in your busy datebook, the first Friday and Saturday of May 2011 for our alumni homecoming.
High school: I have to admit this experience was nothing like I thought it would be. We often hear about high school years being the best of years. Perhaps so, perhaps not. We don’t get to choose who our classmates are: we may not always like everything about them. But what makes a class a family? It is the collective memories that bring us closer together? Like it or not, we all share an experience that has bonded us for the rest of our lives.
Marlo: add an “n” and gives you a popular man’s name. As in that Brando chap. Add “kong” and gets as close to an Ilocano bowl as you can imagine. She got teased often because of this, but has never revealed the origins of her name although she has a brother who has a fairly unusual name too: Zeno. As Valedictorian at the New Baguio Central School, she came into our freshman class as one of the tallest girls. Because of this she had a tendency to stoop a little bit.
I can relate to Marlo in some ways: our older siblings all attended City High, and therefore were subjects of constant comparison with them, all the time. She was known to many of the teachers: Miss Soledad Blancas was her next-door neighbor (I think hers was the closest to the Imperial house, now owned by Lucio Tan) at the Teachers Camp cottages , Mrs. Dequis-Teodoro was her mother’s sister, Mrs. Felisa Beltran was her godmother (I think), and so on. This was an advantage to her, having reduced considerably the life-altering cycle that is high school, and got adjusted quicker to this cycle than many of us. She retired from Rizal Elementary School at Pacdal in 2005.
It is somewhat surprising, that none of her three sons have entered the teaching profession as well. They are, respectively, a military dentist, a lieutenant colonel and PMA graduate based in Samar, and a civil engineer in Baguio. Perhaps it was the influence of her husband, Camilo D. Aspiras Jr., as he served as mechanical engineer with the city’s Public Utilities Services. By her own admittance, he is her favorite person! And perhaps one of their three grandchildren might still become a teacher someday?
I enjoyed having Marlo as a classmate and ka-barkada, and I think a lot of the other classmates did, too. She was easy-going, positive and a lot of fun. (She still is!)! Teaching runs deep in her family blood: her mother was one, her Dad was the custodian at Teachers Camp. So it was no surprise that she took a degree in Education from Saint Louis University, having the teacher-skill set in place, already. Back to her Dad: he was a kind man, always hospitable and welcomed us (the rowdy classmates with shoe soles stuck with lots of Baguio clayish mud) into their house at Teachers Camp, to hang out a bit or just to spend some time before the trek back home. He reminded me of a Filipino version of Mr. Rogers with his ever-warm cardigan.
Since graduation, Marlo and I see each other when we can (about once every four years?). When we reconnect it is as though time stood still, except for the little clues here and there: the streaks of silver hair, the gait that has been replaced by a shuffle, but the smiles and jokes and recalling stories are still there. The often-thought of innocence of our high school youth and how much fun that was, are forever imprinted in us.
One incident that happened, during our junior year is something quite unforgettable. For some funny reason which I do not recall now, Marlo had the notion that a group of us were avoiding her. Mrs. Beltran, in our Biology class, mentioned that some of us were “boycotting” Marlo. She added that if we did not know the meaning of the word we should consult a good dictionary. That afternoon I had to return some Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys library books at the Baguio Public Library (which was housed then at the former Amapola Café on Upper Session Road), at the basement. The attending Librarian, Mr. Gacad (husband of Mrs. Florfina Gacad) was clearing the books that I had borrowed. I think there were three of us together at that time: Ludy B and Salvacion F. In the middle of the transaction, Marlo came bounding down the spiral staircase and inquired from Mr. Gacad where she could find the dictionaries. He inquired what word or words she would consult, and she said, “boycott” – so he referred her to some of the large-size dictionaries which stood on wooden stands, one floor up. So the three of us looked at each other with quizzical looks!
"Haaaay, matay akkk-kon!!" That is a quote, uniquely Marlo Pimentel-Aspiras. Friend.
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