Life of service for family, others

Gal Gadot may have portrayed the best Wonder Woman character in film but this 71-year-old lady deserves the title in real life. At retirement age, Rosita Bernabe Morrell or fondly called ‘Rose’ by the people close to her is still actively working as a caregiver in Fresno, California.

Rose, a mother of four children and 12 grandchildren, takes care of people her age and some quite older which is very ironic because she should have been the one being taken cared of.

She is fueled by the idea of giving her loved ones a better life even if it means being away from them.

Rose worked as a stenographic reporter at the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) for over 30 years.

During those years, she studied nursing to fulfill her long-time dream of travelling abroad which she often described as “God’s geographical will” for her.

Nurses then were in-demand that even doctors shifted to nursing due to the huge compensation offer.

It was in 2013 when she flew to the

I carry my mother on my back to avoid her feet from getting wet because our little home in Matina then was always flooded

Adam B. Morrell

United States six years after she retired.

Behind her perseverance and tenacity was a tough and challenging childhood caused by poverty.

At nine, Rose used to study during the day and fetch her mother, who was then a sewer, at night.

“I carry my mother on my back to avoid her feet from getting wet because our little home in Matina then was always flooded,” she recalled.

After finishing grade school, Rose transferred to seminary. Unable to avail a scholarship, she has to clean the lawn and sweep the floor.

“There was no high school in seminary but the administration allowed me to sit in,” she recalled.

After a year, she transferred to the University of Mindanao but unfortunately her subjects were not credited so she had to take it all over again.

Rose worked as a dishwasher at the City Hall canteen on the side during her high school years.

She also learned stenography at the Davao Business School in 1965.

Rose graduated and took Bachelor of Commerce at the Rizal Memorial Colleges (RMC). She was just able to finish two years as the school offered her to teach stenography which she learned during high school.

While working at RMC, Rose also served as a secretary at Diaz Imperial Law Office and also served at the office of former city councilor Apolinario Cabigon years later.

She then found a niche at NLRC where she served almost half of her life.

Aside from a hardworking person, Rose is good provider and an exemplary faith in God.

She spent most of her life working but she never failed to express her love for her family.

She always reminds her loved ones that: “We don't have anything to boast because everything we have all came from above.” /