It’s business as usual for this 90-year-old mom

This is the story of a woman of strong faith: my mother. Throughout her life, she has been an inspiration to her four children — Ramon, Vicki, Irene and myself. Today, she turns 90 and doesn’t look a day over 70 — or would you believe, 60.

Marina Ramos Meneses was born on Dec. 18, 1915, in Legazpi, Albay, the third of seven children born to Joaquin Ataviado Meneses and Elvira Saenz Ramos. Her father Joaquin was a bank auditor and her mother Elvira was a beautiful mestiza whose father Manuel Ramos, a Spaniard, won a lottery in Spain and traveled to the Philippines on a galleon, eventually settling in Albay.

When Marina was three, her parents took her and older sister Charing to Manila on a boat. The oldest child Binang was already in Manila, studying at Santa Catalina College as an intern. During the boat ride, a storm raged. Water spilled into the boat and passengers feared that it would sink. An American passenger on the boat offered to carry Charing on his back if the boat sank as Marina was safely in her father’s arms. Luckily, the boat survived the storm and docked in Manila safely.

The Meneses family lived in Santa Cruz, Manila. Charing and Marina were both elementary students at Quiapo Catholic School. When she was in Grade 2, Marina received her first Holy Communion. When she was in Grade 3, her father grew ill and died at the age of 45 due to complications from diabetes. By then, she had four surviving sisters.

Life was difficult without her father, who left little money for the family after his death. Binang took a job as a cashier in a bakery and Marina transferred to Zurbaran Elementary School. The family opened a small sari-sari store but it could hardly make both ends meet. An uncle, Luis Meneses, suggested giving up Charing and Marina for adoption to ease the burden on their mother. Charing was then 11 years old and Marina, 10.

The Philippine Independent Children, an adoption agency, sent a van to pick up the two pretty sisters one morning. But at the last minute, their mother relented and refused to give up her daughters.

When she was in Grade 7, Marina was enrolled at the Santa Ana Elementary School and moved to her uncle Elias Ataviado’s home in Santa Ana. She grew up with her cousins Gloria, or Doodie, now living in Maryland; Jesse, Aning, Nonong, Nini who later became a Carmelite nun; Tata who also became a nun with the Sisters of Charity, and Vicente, who became the Bishop of Maasin, Southern Leyte.

From Santa Ana, Marina, Charing and a sister Pacita or Tita moved to another relative’s home, this time with a cousin Petrona (or Toning) Navarrete Crisol, her husband Getulio and children Ester, Dadong, Nena and Manuel.

Charing skipped high school and began working as a ticket seller at the Tivoli movie theater in Santa Cruz, earning P30 a month. Charing used her salary to pay for Marina’s high school education at the Institute of Accounts, Business and Finance, later known as the Far Eastern University (FEU).

As a freshman high school student, Marina applied for work in the school office and was hired for P30 a month. She worked during the day and went to class at night.

After high school graduation, Marina enrolled to take up accounting and law at FEU. But she decided to forego college to work at the Filipinas Compania de Seguros for P40 a month as a 19-year-old in 1934.

She reported for work at the Filipinas Life Assurance building on Plaza Moraga, near Escolta. In the same building worked a dashing, handsome young man who was a basketball star at Letran. Gregorio Martinez Henson, or Goyo, was employed in the non-life insurance department, while she worked in life insurance. It was inevitable that their paths crossed. Goyo’s office was on the second floor and Marina’s was on the fourth. And they often bumped into each other in the elevator.

The war broke out in December 1941 but it didn’t dampen the blossoming romance. In March 1942, Goyo and Marina were married at the San Marcelino Church. Marina’s mother and a sister Isabel stayed with Goyo, Marina and Tita in an apartment on Natividad St. near Bambang. Marina suffered a miscarriage in her first pregnancy and in August 1942, she resigned from her job to become a full-time housewife.

From the Natividad apartment, Goyo and Marina transferred to live with the Henson family in Sampaloc. They stayed with Goyo’s mother Nena and sisters Cely, Tessie and Lulu who were single then. The war years were harsh but somehow, they managed to survive. In 1944, Ramon was born. And a year after the war ended, Vicki was born.

In 1946, the reconstruction of war-torn Manila was in full swing and Filipinas Life was back on its feet, recalling former employees to rejoin the company. Goyo was rehired by Filipinas Life. Then, he brought Marina, Ramon and Vicki to live in a rented home on Bautista St. near La Salle, with Marina’s mother and Tita. It was while they lived there that her mother died at the age of 62.

In 1948, Goyo moved the family into a newly constructed home on E. Vallejo St. in Santol, Sta. Mesa. It was a home Goyo and Marina finally called their own. Irene and I were born in the next few years and the Henson family was complete.

In 1955, Goyo and Marina took a President Cleveland liner on a trip to Japan. It was their first of several happy foreign vacations. As the years went by, they took the kids abroad during the summer, turn by turn — first, Ramon, then Vicki, then Irene, then me.

In 1962, we moved to a new home in Bel-Air Village, Makati.

Marina has always been blessed with close friends, among whom are Cora Huang, Nita Cordero, Margo Medina, Marina Reyes and her sisters-in-law and constant companions — Cely, Tessie and Lulu. She took up cooking under Pat Dayrit and received her Petit Cordon Bleu certificate and also studied sewing under Salvacion Lim at Slim’s Fashion School.

Marina was a model housewife who knew how to cook, sew and keep a neat home. She was a perfect wife and remembers going on lunch or dinner or movie dates with Goyo. When Ramon was at La Salle, Goyo and Marina took him to watch the NCAA basketball games at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.

After college graduation, Ramon, Vicki and Irene left to pursue their careers in the US. Ramon earned his doctorate in industrial psychology at the University of Michigan and now heads the human resource department of Merck Pharmaceuticals. He is married to Sandy Marshall and has three children, Greg, Philip and Emma and one grandchild, Greg, Jr. whose parents are Greg and Lisa Febles. Vicki used to work at the World Bank in Washington, DC, and is married to Bruce Jones with three children, Karen, Stephanie and Christopher. Irene works at the New York University Hospital and is married to Jordan Bruno.

I live in Manila with my wife Menchu and our daughter Cristina.

In 1986, Goyo passed away at the age of 72. Marina then decided to continue Goyo’s insurance business and became a special agent at the age of 70. Today, she is still active in insurance and has a long list of clients. She does her own books, pays her own bills, picks up checks from clients, goes to the office to turn in reports, personally transacts her business at the bank and is an expert at using the ATM machine.

In 1996, Marina sold the Bel-Air home and bought a duplex at the United Hills Village where she lives today. She loves her home, which is just a few steps away from the church.

With four children, seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild, Marina Meneses Henson is a fulfilled woman. There isn’t anyone who can say she looks her age. She says the secret of her long life is her devotion to the Lord – and the diet of fish and vegetables she grew up with.

She still cooks savory dishes and bakes delicious desserts. She remains fashionable and loves looking for bargains with her gang. She is conscientious in her work as a special insurance agent and is forever at her clients’ service. She exercises regularly and walks to church for Mass every day.

Her prayers to the Lord are always answered because there’s a special place for her in God’s loving heart. When we — her children — have problems, we run to her for advice and her novenas never fail to find the solutions.

On her 90th birthday, she asks her friends and relatives to donate to the Carmelite Nuns of Cebu and the St. Martin de Porres Church at United Hills instead of giving her presents.

From your four children, this is our message to you, Mom, whom we love dearly. We owe our lives to you. You are and will always be our inspiration. You taught us to be honest, hard-working and caring of others. We know that up there in heaven, Poppy and Tita are smiling and enjoying this day of celebration with all of us. They’re just as proud as we are of you. We are the luckiest children in the world because you are our mother. We love you, Mom — Ramon, Vicki, Irene and Quinito.