Juanita Javellana Ledesma

By rights according to the usage of her generation, she should have been called Doña Juanita. It was typical of her and her family that this aristocratic form of address was never used. She was plain Mrs. Ledesma.

It was also typical of her and her family that when she died, the obituary notice sent to the newspapers contained the names not only of members of the family but also of those who had served her as "faithful companions" – the cook, the maid, the driver, the gardener. These retainers were among the hosts who took care of the guests at the wake.

That was her style. She and her husband, singly and together, were wealthy, but there was never any ostentation. They lived in simple comfort. And when they traveled they chose hotels that were (in Agatha Christie’s phrase) "quietly expensive."

Like many Visayan women of an older generation, she had the intelligence, the energy, the good business sense and the organizing ability that (with her wealth and social position) might have earned a great name for herself in politics or in business. Instead she devoted herself to something much more important: She created a home for her husband and her children, and in the summers also for her grandchildren. Their houses in Manila, in Iloilo and in Baguio were always open to her children’s friends, classmates, teachers.

She was also devout in a quiet unostentatious way. She and her husband went to Mass and Holy Communion daily. And when her husband became bedridden, she would bring back the Host after Mass and give him Holy Communion.

When she became old in years, she remained young at heart. She enjoyed little pleasures.

Although she kept a quiet lifestyle, she was not herself quiet. She was outspoken and expressed her mind clearly and forcefully. One always knew where one stood with her. Yet she was never arrogant. When she differed with her husband, after expressing her opinion very clearly, she would always defer to him.

When her youngest son decided to become a priest, she opposed it in no uncertain terms. Not that she opposed the priesthood (she had a great respect for priests). But she thought her son too young to make up his mind. (What mother who has nursed a child from infancy would ever think him grown up!) But she made it clear that she would do nothing to prevent it. She was overjoyed when at last he was ordained a priest, and eventually a bishop.

Her piety and her many charities were recognized by the Church. She was made a Dame in several ecclesiastical Orders of Knighthood and was awarded the medal Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice. She was buried in the habit and with the insignia of these Orders.

She was one of the last survivors of an older generation, and she shared some of its prejudices. But she also represented that generation’s best values and traditions – traditions and values which are now in danger of disappearing.