Golden years

MALABUYOC, Cebu – The first time they saw each other, they knew they were meant for each other. He was a power engineer at the Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corporation in Toledo City. She was visiting her father who was then the company foreman; at the time she was on a weekend leave from duties as a staff nurse at Silliman University in Dumaguete City, which was two hours by boat away. They tied the knot two years later.

The other day, November 18, they celebrated their golden wedding anniversary at the Casino Espanol in Cebu City. Relatives and the closest of their friends came to the reception sponsored by their four children. Gold and yellow flowers filled the banquet hall, a sumptuous feast was served, testimonies on a happy marriage were delivered, and classical and pop music and ballroom dancing marked the beginning of another century of togetherness for Teodosio Pimentel Creus, 81, and the former Celsa Torrevillas, 77.

The festivities did not end at Casino Espanol. Yesterday, a busload of Creus relatives – from their four children and one grandchild, and siblings on both sides, nephews and nieces some of whom had flown in from the US especially for the celebration, left for this town three hours by land to the southwest. A thanksgiving mass and a party to which the whole town was invited, were held. It was at the house of Teodosio's parents that a reception was held after Tuding and Celsa were married in the parish church.

Everyone here talks of the couple as being "role models." They've had their ups and downs, Tuding says. They've experienced ups and downs but their marriage has survived.

When Tuding is asked what he considers his most memorable accomplishments, he smiles, and says, it is his children's accomplishments that makes him feel very proud.

And his children talk of how difficult their upbringing had been, but upon recollection are glad that it had been so.

The eldest, Christine, a graduate of the Cebu Institute of Medicine, recalls how strict the old folks had been. No parties for them. They were not given pocket money. "We could not buy snacks, we brought lunch to school."

Her parents' frugality she would appreciate later. She now operates her own pediatric clinic in Clanton, Alabama. She is careful with handling her hard-earned money – this she learned from her parents.

Son Steve is a pilot, flying the A320 with Pacific Airline, and will be transferring to the main fleet of Vietnam Airlines by January next year. An industrial management engineering graduate of Cebu Institute of Technology, he used to work with his father's private company that sold raw materials for cement factories. Now, on the side, he and a partner who is also a pilot, operate three planes (Agcat) that are used as crop dusters and for firefighting purposes.

Steve remembers the times he felt his father was giving him "a hard time." No TV on weekdays. Working on multiplication tables at night. Doing household chores during summer vacations. Now Steve says, he knows the value of money, he will not fritter away his earnings.

The youngest, Cora, is the smart and good-looking manager of AIJ-Philam Savings Bank in Cebu City. She says of her dad as always emphasizing the value of money, honesty and integrity, of imposing discipline, but also of sharing their resources. He has donated valuable properties to the Congregation of St. John in Banawa Hills and the Sisters of Divine Mercy in Malabuyoc.

Her mother, says Cora, is the perfect compliment to her dad. She is a very quiet, hard-working person who still looks good at age 77. In the two years that her husband was on scholarship abroad, she worked as a staff nurse for a hospital in Cebu City, but when he returned, she stayed home and took care of the children until they reached high school. Only then did she begin what what would become a flourishing real estate business. And she also proved to be an able "architect," designing and renovating homes for clients.

The second son, Romulo, has fulfilled his lolo's wish to have a priest in the family. He is a medical doctor, graduating also from the Cebu Institute of Technology. He worked for five years as a cytotechnologist in Redding, Pennsylvania. At this time he was discerning a possible calling to the consecrated life. In 1993, he joined the Congregation of St. John, whose motherhouse is in Notre Dame, France. Now called Fr. John-Therese, C.S.J., he is currently a novice master at the American novitiate of St. Joseph Priory in Princeville, Illinois.

In 1995, when Tuding, visited the St. John monastery in France, he learned a lesson from his son. He had gone to London for some business transaction, and his son told him to stop making money already. "Ang kuwang maoy husto," Father John said. "Wealth is measured in terms of your needs." Those words moved Tuding deeply. When he went back home, he gave up all his consultancies, and decided to live on his and Celsa's resources (which are considerable, anyway).

At the mass held November 19 at the Congregation of St. John in Banawa, the celebrant was Father John, whose homily was on loving and caring for others like Jesus did.

The day before, the celebrant at the thanksgiving mass was Bishop Enriquez Bataclan, D.D., and the co-celebrant was the gentle and soft-spoken Fr. John Therese, who was allowed by his order to come to the Philippines for his parents’ wedding anniversary.

Discipline and genes have to do with the Creus children's successful careers. Their father, a mechanical engineering honor graduate from CIT, is an internationally-acclaimed figure in the cement industry. He started the power plant at the Bacnotan Cement Company in La Union, and the Malangas Thermal Power Plant in Zamboanga del Sur, was power engineer of Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corporation in Toledo City, chief engineer of the Universal Cement Company in Danao City, project superintendent of Pacific Cement Company in Surigao City, and was second highest officer of the Apo Cement Corporation in Naga, Cebu. He served as vice president for technical affairs of the Philippine Cement Manufacturers Corporation, which has 19 cement plants under its wings, and as a consultant of various corporations. He has given lectures locally and abroad and received significant awards for his accomplishments.

Tuding traces the Creuses' love for learning to his father, the late Faustino, a tailor and businessman in Malabuyoc, and his mother, a simple housewife. His father was a disciplinarian, giving errant children the rod (it's okay that he did, says so Tuding, but who did not whip his own kids). Because of little resources, his father asked his children (he had 12) to take care of their younger siblings' college education.

Tuding helped Polen get a degree in education and Espie in nursing. Retired Air Force Gen. Neresito sent Nieves to a dental school, and Camilo, a city engineer of Cebu City, saw Salve through her nursing course.

Looking back, Tuding said at the reception at Casino Espanol, that "the greatest gift we received from God are the births of our four children. We imposed discipline, austere living, and close parental guidance during their formative years. They have achieved high scholastic levels in their studies not only because of our inspirational guidance but more because of their diligence. In short, what we are today is because of loving parents and loving children in the family. And of course, more because of God's blessing."

Tuding says when the kids were young, he had little time for them as he was busy earning a living. It was Celsa who saw to their daily needs. But never, their children Creuses say, did their parents argue in front of them. Tuding himself says that when he and Celia could not agree on something, they stop talking about it, and the next day, the solution would just come.

Now Tuding has lots of time reading philosophical and spiritual books, and to keep fit, he hikes for two hours on weekdays, and four hours on weekends.

And he and Celsa and relatives faithfully hold prayer meetings every Sunday afternoon.

What a nice way to spend their golden years.

* * *

My e-mail:[email protected]