CLASS ’73
25 years have passed again! That was just like a fleeting moment. We are now the Golden Jubilarians, the second of the milestone batches. Whether we accept it or not, we are the oldies. But age is just a number, as they say, and there is still every reason to CELEBRATE. For indeed, life is short, and the reason we are still around is to witness the beauty and bountiful blessings life has given us. So let’s celebrate together and get ready to join the Velada 2023 in October!
We recall that as Silver Jubilarians in 1998, we breezed thru the dance steps, rehearsed them (no sweat), as we were still in the prime of our lives. Our first milestone Velada as Quadranscentennials coincided with the 100th Death Anniversary of Mother Marie Eugenie (1898 – 1998).
Like the Broadway Chorus Line cast, we glittered the stage as we danced to the song, “Singular Sensation”. It was a sensational class performance!
From then on, Batch ’73 was the first class to celebrate the Velada every 5 years: Pearl in 2003; Emerald 2008; Ruby 2013; Sapphire 2018, and come 2023, our Golden!
The Chosen Ones: A Class of Firsts
Herran Class ’73 has produced two world-class artists, namely, Lanelle Abueva-Fernando for exclusive pottery collections and Lisa de Leon-Zayco for mosaic art. Both are renowned artists. Lanelle’s ceramic collection is showcased in her studio and restaurant, Crescent Moon, in Antipolo, Rizal. Lisa has had various exhibits of her beautiful mosaic art throughout the country.
This batch also boasts its list of graduates who embraced the medical profession. The following are the MDs of Herran Batch ’73:
(1) Susanna Padilla-Campos (Pediatric Endocrinology)
(2) Ma. Victoria Vallarta-Tangco (Rehabilitation Medicine)
(3) Elvira Henares-Esguerra*(Dermatology)
(4) Rebecca Baylon-Vergara (Pathology & Cytopathology)
(5) Bettina Limjuco (Orthopedics and Rehabilitaion Medicine)
(6) Agnes Montano (non-practicing MD)
(7) Elizabeth La’O-Burke (non-practicing MD)
(8) Conchita Sandico-Lo (non-practicing MD)
(9) Corazon Villadolid-Trocino + (General Medicine)
(10)Regina P. Pineda +(Internal Medicine-Nephrology)
*advocate and champion of Breast Feeding Movement in the Philippines
This awesome class also produced a very dedicated and true public servant in the person of Regina (Bong) Cosio-San Miguel, who has served Barangay Mariana in New Manila, Quezon City as Chairman for ____ years. She was recently accorded an award by ___________
In 2008, our 35th Anniversary as Emerald/Jade, we perked up the program with our lively dance rendition of “Mama Mia”.
Our 40th Year was marked by Ruby, the gemstone that symbolizes passion, devotion, and love. This was about our love for our Alma Mater, as well as the endearing relationships we forged and sustained throughout the years with our classmates/friends. Dressed in shimmering red, our class came together again to rock the Mother Rose Auditorium to the music of Black Eyed Peas’ “Dirty Bit”.
Year 2018 was Sapphire. We had such fun on stage with a combined performance of the graduates of the San Lorenzo and Herran campuses, dancing to the medley of 70s music from Olivia Newton-John, ________.
Then came Covid. No face-to-face presentations were made possible. Everything was on Zoom: online!
Post-pandemic 2023. We now are emancipated from Covid and first to perform ‘live’ onstage: masks off, for the first time in three years!
It is so fortunate of us to be a Class of Firsts. This year will be the first face-to-face Velada performance post-pandemic. Class ’73 takes on the limelight again for its milestone performance as the Golden Jubilarians of Assumption in 2023.
Warming Up
In this phase of our lives where we are faced with maintenance medicines, various body aches and pains, how do we tickle the interests of these ladies to actively take part and support our milestone celebration?
Dedicated classmate and core committee member, Marivic Erana-Mojica, thought of organizing small tete-a-tete parties each month: to encourage Herran Class ’73 to bond with each other. Each get-together had a theme, and these were potluck parties hosted at her place. Monthly themes were: CNY, English HiTea, Holy Week Stations of the Cross in AC-SnLo, Cooking Demo party, Zumba Dance party, May Flowers Theme. These were all very successful events that fostered camaraderie through interaction and, of course, delicious food! We all became closer and soon enough, we warmed up to one another.
Mondays and Wednesdays are blocked off for 3-hour practices for 3 months: August, September, October.
All of us who have chosen to participate have faced the challenges of ensuring the proper execution of dance steps, and remembering which dance step comes next. There’s simply no room for rusty memory banks—during every practice, we’ve given it our all. As the Velada closes in, practices will be more exhausting and possibly draining. All of our efforts will be for the love of Assumption, and for the fond memories that we will treasure in the years to come.
We are here to prove that the Golden Girls are still capable of exuding joy and laughter with our talents and spirit to perform for our school, Assumption. All Hail!