Filipino oldtimer in Chicago Dies

CHICAGO – Mariano G. Hermosa, a Filipino old timer who came to the United States at the young age of “16 with 85 cents in his pockets" in 1927 at the cusp of the Great Depression, died August 8, a week short of his 98th birthday. Hermosa succumbed to “metastasized bone cancer" at a nursing home in Chicago’s suburban Park Ridge, Illinois. His grieving spouse, the former Fe Lagrosa of Cuyo in the western Philippine island province of Palawan, said: “I am very sad that he was gone. But because of the pain of his metastasized bone cancer, it was better for him to go." Her brother, Rufu “RG" Lagrosa Jr., a native of El Nido, Palawan, said his brother-in-law came to America “when he was in his teens, persevered and succeeded." In an interview with the Daily Herald in 2005, Hermosa said that he arrived in “San Francisco, California with 85 cents in his pockets. Living on just bread and water, he went door-to-door asking for odd jobs. Eventually, he landed one as a house servant and stayed with the family nine years." “He worked during the day and went to school by night," a family friend, Ting Joven, said. Hermosa finished his studies in International Relations at University of California in San Francisco and went to Graduate School at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. 60 degrees below zero Hermosa was 29 when World War II broke out. He was sent to the Arctic Circle north of Greenland with a US construction battalion. “I was happy to serve, but it was 60 degrees Fahrenheit below zero and I’m from the Philippines," he told the Herald, referring to his native homeland’s tropical climate. After the war, he started working as a waiter in a Chicago restaurant before he became the manager of the then famous Blue Angel Night Club in Chicago for 20 years. A frugal man, Hermosa was able to buy his first building with his elder brother, Vitalino, and he went on to own 17 buildings at one time. He started helping relatives and friends immigrate to America, housing them in his buildings and teaching them “survival skills" to find their first jobs. Hermosa also put up a travel agency bearing his name. It is co-operated by his wife, Fe, who retired as manager of the Laboratory Department of the Ravenswood Hospital in Chicago’s north side, according to his niece-in-law, Cecilia Pacis. Together, the Hermosa couple established the first Filipino Dance Troupe in Chicago that was active in Philippine Independence Day festivities. The Hermosas became the guardians of their orphaned niece, Rita Hermosa, when Rita’s parents, Vitalino Hermosa and Alodia Alejandro, were killed in a vehicular accident in Sullivan, Indiana in 1960. Another couple, Fermin and Luz Nieves, the victims’ neighbors, also died in that accident. Only Rita (now Mrs. Shaw), who was 11 years old at that time and the Nieves’ son, Raymond, survived in that accident. They call him ‘Don A native of Sta. Lucia, Ilocus Sur, Hermosa was active in the Ilocos Sur Club and the Alliance of Filipino Americans, Inc. A philanthropist, he co-founded the Palawan Medical Mission Group (Palmed) together with his wife and doctors Henry and Nila Cordero. Palmed conducts medical missions to Palawan every two years. He is also big contributor to their church – Our Lady of Ransom. His parents were Fabian Hermosa and Susana de Guzman and his siblings were Ceferina, Vitalino, Emerita, Mamerto, Natividad, Salvacion and Tristan. Ever since a Chicago community publisher, Veronica Leighton, called Hermosa “Don" in an article in Via Times, others in the community followed suit in addressing him “Don," which delighted him. Another friend, Yoly Tubalinal, co-publisher of the Fil-Am Weekly Megascene, said Hermosa deserves to be called “Don" because he was a “man of privilege and means having acquired wealth thru his real estate holdings." “Manong Mariano was a self-made man who lived a full life, traveled the world and hoped to live to be a century old but unfortunately fell two years short. They would have celebrated their 50th (Golden) Anniversary next year in May," Tubalinal said. “He had so many plans for a grand celebration - filet mignon for entree, music to be played, program and program host (he wanted Ernest 'Bong' Punzalan to do the hosting) and dress code of guests (only tux, no exception). His funeral guests had filet mignon, alright, but sorry, no tux for them. We will always remember Manong for his gift of wisdom and kindness in time of our greatest need," she added. Hermosa is survived by his wife of 50 years, Fe Lagrosa Hermosa, sister Natividad Velasco (Philippines) and nieces and nephews. - GMANews.TV