In Memoriam, Ramon Solis

Delivered by Rolando M. Solis, M.D. at Pope Pius X Catholic Church, Dallas, Tx , July 9, 2009.

In Memoriam Ramon M. Solis, Sr. 1910-2009 On behalf of our family I wish to thank everyone for taking their time to attend this celebratory mass for our father, Ramon M. Solis, Sr. Papa was born on January 10, 1910 and died peacefully on July 6, 2009. Ninety –nine years and a half is indeed a long time for anyone to live in any epoch. I wonder how many of us will survive this long or would like to live this long? Did you know that it was in the year of his birth that Father’s Day was first celebrated in the United States? And that Mother Teresa was born in the same year? Or that the Ritz Hotel in Madrid opened that year? The first US patent for inventing traffic lights was awarded and Theodore Roosevelt became the first US president ever to fly in an airplane that year also. Papa was born in the town of Looc, province of Romblon. His father was quite prolific outliving two wives. Our father was from the third wife. Our paternal grandfather literally populated the town with Solises and perchance if you wander into this place, you will find out that all the Solises came from this one source. He lived to be 102. And without the benefit of modern medicine! Papa’s elementary schooling was initiated in Looc and high school in the provincial capital of Romblon, which had the only high school in the province at that time. He obtained his law degree at the Philippine Law School in Manila. He married our mother, who was a school teacher in his hometown. He practiced law for a while which was interrupted by the Second World War when the Japanese occupied the country. At that time he already had 3 sons, with me as the youngest, having been born a year before the Japanese Occupation. They would eventually have seven children with an only girl, Victoria, the youngest of the brood. I have a vague recollection of our family hiding in the mountains then, and moving to another town to get away, as the invaders had burned the whole town including our house. We traveled by horse as this was the only means of transportation. We found safety, but life was quite difficult, to say the least. After the war there were now four sons and Papa was assigned as a circuit judge to cover 3 municipalities in the island of Sibuyan, which is one on the three main islands of the province. This was around 1946. We traveled by sailboat because there was no motorized sea transport then. We initially lived in the town of Magdiwang and eventually settled in the town of Cajidiocan where we spent our childhood years. The family moved to Manila in the late 50’s.

Our parents immigrated to the United States in 1979, settling in Dallas, and eventually acquired naturalized citizenship. After our mother’s demise, Papa learned a lot of things he always took for granted, like cooking and looking after himself. His talent at surviving was evident. He mastered the intricacies of Medicare and Medicaid and sometimes overdid his interpretations though, I guess, from instincts acquired as a law professional. He took care of himself well and enjoyed life, supported by family and friends. Until about a year ago he still went with his friends to the casinos in Shreveport and Oklahoma where he enjoyed socializing and playing cards. He was health conscious, never smoked or drank alcohol and was well aware of medical trends, gleaned mostly from reading newspapers and magazines and television. He had clippings of health issues scattered in his duplex apartment. It was only about a year ago that he started to deteriorate physically when the aging process finally caught up with him, which he vainly tried to challenge and retard. As a medical practitioner, I was at times frustrated that I could not make him follow what I thought were medically necessary, if these conflicted with his thinking, like wearing hearing aid or using walking stick which he jovially opined would make people perceive he was old, although he was in his nineties! We had differences in politics, social and civic affairs but respected each others territory. He was intelligent and very proud—with the latter attribute mistaken for arrogance and stubbornness by those who did not know him well. His cultural upbringing, particularly, his steadfast and outmoded patriarchal concepts often times catered to his disadvantage. He cared for his family in an introverted manner but was wanting in public show of affection. It was a source of great pride for him being the father and grandfather of lawyers. And to a fault he adored his great grandchildren. It is indeed a great tribute to both our parents for their perseverance and sacrifices in sending all of us children to college in spite of their financial shortcomings. Comfort and luxury were foreign to all of us while we were achieving our goals. Education is our greatest heritage and to this were are truly grateful. I am sure it is our parent’s fondest hope from the Great Beyond that their legacy will continue with respect, honesty, harmony and love among those they left behind. Papa we love you and we’ll miss you. We wish you Godspeed!