By: Telly Gonzaga-Ocampo

The joy of remembering and being remembered

I had the biggest surprise in my life on Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. One dusk on that day, at The Blue Apartelle in Taguihon, Baclayon, Bohol, a guy came to the house and asked: “Mao ba ani ang balay ni Ma’am Telly Ocampo?” After I answered in the positive, two (2) ladies alighted from a car and guess who were they? Barbara a Gonzaga-Ong and Rufa Clavano-Cimafranca. 

My heart leaped with joy realizing that my friends have remembered me and visited me at home. And we had more fun as we recalled the days of our youth.

In our earlier days in college in the early 60’s Barbara, Rufa and I were members of the Corps of Sponsors for the Reserve Officers’ Training Course (ROTC) in school at Holy Name University (HNU). Vilma Pacana was our corps sponsor.  I could still remember the others like Mila Estrera, Corazon Matuod, Socorro Mendoza, Ester De La Peña, and Teresita Iman.  The two of them could not anymore remember their partners. Mine was Jun Escalera and I could not also remember why Eddie Olario became my partner in the following year.

That dusk of Nov. 29, 2024 was, indeed, a big and happy surprise for me since it was the first time that Barbara (Babs) came over to the house with Rufa.  Since my hip surgery in early 2019, I have not been doing grocery job. It was during this grocery job that I would meet Babs in their mall.  And my long absence at the BQ grocery must have been the reason for Bab’s coming to the house,  

Bab’s son, RG Ong, married Rufa’s granddaughter, a very pretty lady who is a beauty title holder for the city of Tagbilaran. She is currently taking the bar examinations and hopes to get the results this month. RG, her husband, manages Builderware, one of the subsidiaries of the Bohol Quality Group of Companies.

Barbara and her siblings consider our family (the Gonzagas of Baclayon) as cousins and close relatives even if we could not trace our blood relationship. Even before we went to College, we were already good friends in high school at St. Joseph College (now the Holy Spirit School!). It was in this school where all the Gonzaga sisters studied: Barbara, Chulia, Purita, Liz and Medy, all pretty and beautiful daughters of Nong Ondoy and Nang Asing Varquez of Loboc town. Nang Asing was also a beauty queen in her younger days.  Their brother, Dodong Gonzaga, during high school days, was at the HNU, and not at St. Joseph College because the latter was an exclusive school for girls. Their other brother, Pempe, was still in grade school at that time. 

Chulia, the sister next to Barbara, was our class salutatorian.  She won the Current Events competition during the Bohol Inter-Diocesan Schools  Athletic League (BIDSAL) in the province. This qualified her to represent Bohol to the CIDAL meet in Cebu where she grabbed the gold medal. In the same event, Daya Lim from our school also won the competition in Religion. Chulia died young.  Daya died early this year – on February 2, on the feast of the presentation.

What a joy to be remembered and to remember the joyful memories of long ago.

To Barbara and Rufa, here’s looking forward to our date at the bougainvillea fields on one of the hills in Baclayon.