Mary Prieto: End of a gracious era

MANILA, Philippines – There are many things to be said about Mary Prieto. She was the country’s Miss Manners. She was a vanguard of Philippine high society – the proper one, please, as she would probably say every time she frowned on the improprieties and scandals in society. She was an American-born beauty who shone in the 1930s and ’40s as the movie star Yolanda Marquez.

So when Mary Prieto passed away last Thursday, it was easy to speak of her demise as the passing away of an icon. It was also the end of an era of elegance and refinement epitomized by her and the late Chona Kasten. Both Mary and Chona served as consultants of Rustan’s, where a high-end clientele would seek them out for wardrobe and home entertaining tips.

As The STAR’s advice columnist starting in the l980s, Mary answered readers’ questions on etiquette, fashion and beauty. Her 3-Day Miracle Diet became so popular that The STAR’s Lifestyle section, which ran her “Just Asking” column, had to regularly reprint it. Later, lonely housewives and broken-hearted young people would ask her about their problems, and the ever-gracious Mary never complained that her column had evolved into the refuge of the lovelorn.

Yet there was something about Mary that perhaps not many people knew. More than just a beauty, “Mary was a deep thinker with a sense of humor,” says her best friend, lawyer Josie Lichauco, who once served in government. “She was my mentor, my second mother who gave me advice on life, matters of the heart and politics. Yes, we were always talking politics.”

“We would always look forward to her witty remarks,” adds Josie, referring to Mary’s regular group – Chari Bagatsing, Ophelia Recto, Honey Ilusorio, Criselda Lontok and herself.

Once, a STAR reader, a well-heeled matron, wrote Mary that she was falling in love with her handsome driver. “My gosh,” Mary laughingly told this writer, “during my ladies’ lunch the day my column came out, 100 women were asking me for the address of that handsome driver...Why, if I had known this driver’s whereabouts, I would keep it  to myself!”

Mary was like that. Looking so poised and proper, she would often make us burst into laughter with her unexpected and funny remarks.

However, Josie regrets that some people misunderstood Mary’s uncommunicative stance in the past few years. “People thought Mary was having memory problems. The truth is, she had become hard of hearing, and she simply refused to wear a hearing aid.”

“Mary was a very spiritual person,” says Criselda Lontok, who was also Mary’s favorite RTW designer. “She would host Bible-reading sessions with Fr. Pat Lim in her home every Tuesday. She would also attend Mass at the Santuario de San Antonio almost daily when she could, sometimes walking from her nearby home when she was not yet wheelchair-bound.”

“Mary – or Yolanda Marquez – was the original high society beauty-turned-movie actress who commanded such high respect and admiration,” says culture stalwart and film memorabilia collector Danny Dolor. “Mary had a total of nine movies from the 1930s to ‘40s, and the song ‘Ikaw’ was composed in 1937 by Miguel Velarde Jr. in her honor.

What was Mary Prieto’s best advice to friends? “Solitude is different from loneliness. Life can be difficult, but one must enjoy it, because it is a gift from God.” These are Josie’s favorite lines from Mary.

Josie smiles amid tears as she says, “Mary died a beautiful death, with her family by her side, love in her heart, and God in her soul.”

Yes, there was always something beautiful about Mary.

Mary Hernandez Prieto died of pneumonia last Thursday, June 11, at 8:45 a.m. at Makati Medical Center at the age of 89. Her husband, Leopoldo Prieto, acclaimed as the Father of the Philippine Basketball Association, died on April 7, 2009 of a stroke. Their children are Marylou Prieto-Lovina, Mike Prieto (married to Tessie Oca), Leopoldo Jr. (Chiqui Martinez), and Antonio, deceased, (Carmen Melencio). There will be a Mass and necrological services at 4:30 p.m. today at Capella dela Virgen of the Santuario de San Antonio in Forbes Park.