Maria Conchita Pinpin

Ma. Conchita “Connie” Pasion Pinpin was born on September 6, 1939 in Santa Ana, Pampanga, Philippines to Lino Pasion and Marceliana Salac. Her siblings are Rosa, Loreta, Aquelina and Antonio. She was married to Felipe “Philip” Pinpin on February 7, 1963. Philip also grew up in the same town in Pampanga. They built their first home in Sanville, Quezon City where their children James and Ness grew up. James is married to Judy Hom and they have given Connie her life’s jewel and only granddaughter Natalia. Ness has lived a significant amount of her life with Connie and Philip as a devoted daughter, and especially the last 2 years where she came back from the Bay Area to help with James and Judy to take care of their parents during their time of need. Connie has also been a mother to a lot of her nephews and nieces especially Fatima Rana and Stanley Bautista.

Connie was called “Cos” in her youth due to her love for the Cosmos soda. Her nickname changed to “Chit” in her early adult life and was highlighted in her fabled “Chit’s Orchids and Lugaw House” garden restaurant at Visayas Ave. in Quezon City. She settled with her nickname “Connie” when the family immigrated to the United States in 1984, specifically in San Diego, California.

Connie and Philip traveled worldwide, and through 43 states of the US during their 58 years of marriage with their home’s walls in Paradise Valley filled with pictures of their travels. They were partners in crime where they’ve hit every resort and casino in San Diego and their travels to play poker and occasionally golf. Connie and Philip would also hold a yearly pilgrimage to the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas with their son James. Along with their travel pictures were pictures of their granddaughter Natalia whom they doted on as they were her number one fans through all her ballet and oboe recitals and also included a yearly attendance taking her and her friends to the Del Mar Fair.

Connie loved orchids and had a lucrative orchid nursery and landscaping business in Manila. She started her career as a school teacher at the Cecilio Apostol Elementary School in Caloocan City. She merged her green thumb with her love for cooking by establishing Chit’s O & L, which was a restaurant surrounded by an orchid garden. Her eatery became a favorite by celebrities and government officials alike favoring aside from her assorted lugaw dishes, her “Chili Crab Singapura” which she picked up during a visit to Singapore, her Lapu-Lapu fish head soup, and her grilled bbqs and liempo. Her son James’ high school friends and classmates still fondly remember her sponsoring their basketball team and their weekly after competition feasts at the restaurant.

Continuing their entrepreneurship in National City, California, Connie and Philip established Philippine Travellers as a travel, courier and insurance agency. Finding the right life insurance provider, it became their mission and service to sell the lowest cost and highly secured insurance policies to their family and friends. Through their business, Connie and Philip met and gained numerous friends and colleagues and became a pillar of both the Fil-Am journalistic and civic communities until their retirement.

Connie was gregarious and generous throughout her life. She was always the center of a conversation and had a story to tell to anyone she could talk to making her an instant favorite to all her Filipina nurses during her numerous hospital visits. Connie throughout her life and even until recently found numerous ways to support her siblings and their children in the Philippines. She was the core of her family’s strength and was a fighter until the very end until she lost her prolonged battle with leukemia.

We now take comfort in knowing that Connie and Philip are back together once again, and they are seeking out their next adventure.