A wedding and an anniversary
LET me share highlights of two events I attended last year – one a wedding of a good friend, Goody Mercado, to John Lansang last October 8, and the diamond wedding anniversary of another couple – my college friends Belen and Al Medina which was held last December 26 at the Bahay ng Alumni.
What made both occasions remarkable is that the first is, as Goody and John describe in their invitation note, “an informal and non-conventional wedding for after all, it’s not every day that two 70+year-old people are getting married.”
The other, the 60th wedding anniversary of former UP friends, Belen Tan Gatue and Alfonso Medina, is likewise not ordinary, as it is not often that you find couples in their early 80s who are still able to wear their dancing shoes, looking very fit as they greeted their numerous friends and relatives. Too, they did not have to invite outside entertainers as they had a pool of talent within the family. Their grandchildren the children of their nine children, some living abroad, provided varied musical entertainment throughout the evening.
Belen, a noted sociologist, had authored several publications on the Filipino family, the Chinese in the Philippines, migration, among several others. I have been told by her fellow professors that she is a very good teacher. Judging from her perspectives on the Filipino family and the Chinese community in the country, as well as the passion for details shown in her autobiography, I do not doubt at all that this excellence extends to all her activities – teaching, research, as well as her own family life. My favorite is her book on her early experiences at school including life at the University of the Philippines where she recounts her impressions of academic and extracurricular life. It was here where we met as roommates at the YWCA dormitory during the pioneering days at Diliman. It was also at UP where she met Al, who was an ROTC officer. Belen became his corps sponsor, and this was followed by a romantic courtship. This love story of the handsome officer and beautiful maiden culminated in a wedding after graduation. Although we don’t see each other often, we kept our old ties – I was at her debut celebration, wedding, and also at their 50th wedding anniversary.
Goody, who is 71, is a fellow trustee of the Kapatiran Kaunlaran Foundation. We were so impressed with her executive skills that we elected her chair a few months before her wedding. She had been a widow for 18 years before her second marriage. (She compares this “waiting” of 18 years to John who “waited” for 15 months). She has three children and eight grandchildren. A nurse professional, she is engaged in the pharmaceutical business. John who is 76, is likewise a successful businessman. He is also a widower with seven children and eleven grandchildren. They were married at the Archbishop’s House at a lovely wedding officiated by Bishop Ted Bacani. It may have been an intimate and informal wedding, but judging from the guests who had come to the church and at the reception later, it certainly was not a small gathering. The two are such a gracious, friendly couple who both share a vast network of friends and colleagues who had come to wish them well. The invitation had asked guests not to bother with gifts but instead, donate to their favorite charities – Salt and Light for Christ Community (John’s) and Resources for the Blind, Inc. (Goody’s).
From what I see on Facebook pages lately, both Goody and John are still enjoying an extended honeymoon. They deserve this happiness and the best of both worlds – the practice of their professions, and the enjoyment of being part of an expanded family.