ENQUIRY
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL
Portrait of a lady
Sunday 07 18, 2009
Leticia Madamba Valdes of San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte, spouse of the late Dr. Jesus Valdes, is dead at 87.
This one-liner in the online edition of a Philippine national daily jolted me upon my arrival here in Bishkek, Kyrgyztan. And I sent this message to Cristina, my sister-in-law, on her Facebook: God touched her, and she slept. Good night, Nana Letty.
With the pain that comes to one who learns of the passing of someone close, I was transported back to San Nicolas, to the time when my childhood revolved around that big white house along Camino Real in my hometown.
And I started remembering Nana Letty…
I remember how this gracious lady flew into a frightful rage when one of her four sons broke a particularly prized china collection, not so much at her frightened and guilty son but at herself for having allowed herself to lose her emotional self-monitoring capacity.
I remember the smile that never went away from her face — even when she had to put her foot down on a request by one of her seven daughters to attend "a barn dance somewhere" (surely, the equivalent of "gimmick night" of today’s teenagers) which was the rage during our age of mischief and innocence.
I remember the gentle hectoring she used to apply on her husband, Tata Susing, whenever she had to ask him to rescue the boys who had clambered up the chico trees that ringed the white house and had found themselves too terrified and scared shitless to climb down because of the heights.
I remember how she would discuss endlessly with my mother details of how to cut clothing material the best way they knew how so that it would do the wearer proud as a peacock when she wore it on some special occasion.
I remember, too, how, with some choice words of chastisement, she used to dress down my brother Stanley, who was to become her son-in-law many years later, for monkeying with Tata Susing’s green Cadillac which she made sure was always kept polished to a dazzling shine.
I remember the time she tried, after seeing me serve at Mass, to convince me (in her trademark mellifluous voice) to enter the priesthood, much to the consternation of my father.
I remember most of all the generosity that oozed out of her in her perennial role as Lady Santa on Christmas Day, distributing bags and bags of rice from the bountiful Valdes granary. And who could forget the kindness she showered and encouraging words she gave to the multitude of her relatives who converged at their vast farm at the foothills of the Cordilleras in Padong every New Year’s Day, and the children from San Nicolas she sent to school and who are now accomplished professionals.
Nana Letty was an extraordinary woman, a rare gem, a spiritual beauty to behold. And these attributes are preserved in a canvas by Ricarte Puruganan, a childhood friend of hers from Dingras. A photograph of that painting is the cover page of the Manuel Duldulao coffee-table book of famous paintings of Filipino artists.
In her early youth she went to the Philippine Normal School, aspiring to be a teacher like her mother was. She was also sent to New York by her father, who was the justice of the peace of San Nicolas, to study interior design. But the demands of full-time motherhood prevented her from becoming either a professional teacher or full-time interior designer. The mark of her eye for the aesthetic, however, is evident in how she had refurbished the white house and the Casa Nido (her ancestral home), and designed houses of the prominent San Nicolaneos residing in the city.
Nana Letty was a statuesque and brainy beauty many notches higher than the Rose of Tacloban who became first lady of the Philippines. By some quirk of fate, Nana Letty failed to become first lady: Tata Susing lost twice to a politician named Ferdinand from nearby Batac for the position of representative of the second district of Ilocos Norte. The political misfortunes of her husband notwithstanding, she went on, with the same grace she maintained as host of the white house that served as campaign headquarters for her husband, to become one of the active Blue Ladies. Up to the time of her death, Nana Letty carried on a close friendship with Imelda.
Nana Letty was an active exponent of cultural revival. As a member of the Sadiri ti San Nicolas, an organization of professionals tracing their roots to San Nicolas, she was instrumental in the preservation of the comedia that San Nicolas is famous for, and had even organized a cultural tour of Hawaii, California and Chicago, just to bring the comedia to these places. The dallot, the Ilocano equivalent of the balagtasan, has been preserved, thanks to Nana Letty. And as if these cultural concerns were not enough, at the time of her death she had already finished the blueprint for the Museum for Ilocano Culture, which the Sadiri ti San Nicolas will hopefully implement.
While her husband was active in the Knights of Columbus, Nana Letty was equally tireless in affairs of the daan nga simbahan (old, Catholic church). She and my mother were daily fixtures at Mass at the old church. Her creative interventions in the staging of the prusisyun during the Holy Week made this annual religious event a must-see for everyone in Ilocos Norte.
Nana Letty will be buried today at the Valdes family mausoleum in San Nicolas. The mausoleum, also an oeuvre of Nana Letty the artist, evokes the classic architectural lines of a Greek temple, and is situated at the center of the cemetery. I am sure her funeral will be an event fitting for a lady who was tall in stature and equally tall in the admiration and esteem of everyone in San Nicolas.
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