Amparo DeJesus Paredes

She is survived by her husband, Modesto “Jerry” Paredes, Jr., three daughters and their families, including four grandchildren: Marites and Thom Griffith, Nicole and Michelle Griffith, Antoniette and Dan Siber, Ryan and Jojo Siber, and Lourdes and Jason Campbell.

Born in the Philippines on Oct 1, 1930 to Felix and Maria DeJesus, she was their third daughter and sixth of eight child children, and the last surviving among her siblings.

A survivor of wartime trauma (Japanese occupation of the Philippines), Amparo changed the trajectory of her life. Born in a third world country, she established her adult life in a completely new world.

In her home town of Murphy in Quezon City, she began a career in cosmetology, a common “skilled career” for a young woman in her country. In her early 20’s her father encouraged her to study medicine and thus initiated an extraordinary shift in the potential of her life and for generations to come.

She enrolled at University of the Philippines, obtained her medical degree, and completed her medical residency in the United States, which at the time welcomed foreign graduates to meet the domestic demand for medical professionals. She was part of the “brain drain” of countries such as the Philippines, where educated and trained professionals left their home country to work in more developed countries.

Her compensation as a foreign medical resident in the late 1950’s was about $40 per week plus room and board. This was “success” for her. Amparo specialized in OB-GYN, was on call around the clock, and delivered many babies.

After working as a foreign resident in New York City and then West Virginia, she landed an assignment in Cleveland/Parma, Ohio. There, she was introduced to her future husband, another young doctor, Modesto “Jerry” Paredes. Their first date was to Sunday Catholic mass. Soon after, they were married. Within the year, they had their first child, Marites, a honeymoon baby.

They continued applying for positions open to foreign medical doctors and had two more daughters, Antoniette born in Ohio, and Lourdes born in Indiana, before relocating to southern California. There they joined Modesto’s parents, Modesto Sr. and Pia Paredes, new grandparents who welcomed the opportunity to assist with childcare while Ampy and Jerry worked full time as full-fledged doctors.

Amparo worked as a physician in Rehabilitation at the VA Long Beach for 15 years before retiring. She then worked part-time for Kaiser Permanente in the Urgent Care Clinic and also joined the US Army Reserves with Modesto.

She had to be a person of great vision, intelligence, self-confidence, and capacity to blaze this new path in a very different world from where she was born. With this resilience she must have also developed a tough exterior to attempt to shield her from experiences of racism, sexism, and other likely prejudices common in the 1960’s and 1970’s.

As a matriarch she ran a strict household and her strong personality carried through in her parenting style.

Those who knew her in her mid-life years remember Ampy as the life of the party, always smiling, laughing, open to interesting outings (like a grunion run), throwing and attending parties to celebrate birthdays, graduations, holidays and weddings.

As a retiree, Amparo stayed busy and enjoyed taking classes at Cypress College in a variety subjects, from tax preparation to interior design. She was the type of woman who loved to learn at least a little bit about a lot of things.

She and Modesto traveled extensively. They loved cruising and traveling to reunions with their medical school classmates. They went on a few medical mission trips to the Philippines with other retired Filipino doctors and nurses from the US. They offered their services to areas where access to medical care is expensive and limited.

When her first grandchild, Ryan, was born, Ampy embraced her favorite job of all, being a grandmother. She was known lovingly as “Grandma-ma” to her grandchildren and had the time and resources to indulge them. She assisted Toni with childcare as she worked full-time and later went back to school.

In June of 2024, Amparo and Modesto celebrated their 62 years of marriage. The success and longevity of their marriage may be due to their fine balance of “yin and yang.” They were of very different temperaments, and yet seemed to have a rock solid team approach to life. Ampy was the “front man” making the plans, the deals, and leading conversations, and Jerry was agreeable, loyal, quiet and steady.

They were involved in Marriage Encounter in the 1980’s which encouraged honest and deep communication within marriage and taking the time to celebrate their love. A prime example of Jerry’s efforts to enjoy his wife’s interests: Jerry stepped out of his comfort zone to join her in her love of ballroom dancing by taking classes and private lessons and accompanying her to dancing events.

They attended mass regularly together. As a family, they prayed the rosary and closely followed Catholic traditions. Amparo had a special devotion to the Virgin Mary, often hosting prayer and rosary gatherings.

Jerry and Ampy owned a home in Henderson, Nevada for many years where they were part of a vibrant Filipino retired community.

Ampy was a strong willed woman. She adamantly conveyed to her kids from the time they were young, that she wanted to spend her life, into her old age and for as long as possible, in her home.

In the last four and a half years, their youngest daughter, Lourdes, returned from Chicago to support Amparo and Modesto. They needed help living in their home independently because they were frail with complex medical conditions, And like all human beings, she valued and needed familiar and familial companionship. For the last three years, loving caregivers assisted Lourdes a few hours a day and when she made brief visits back to her home in Chicago or when she and Jason traveled.

As Ampy’s light was fading she was still comforted by hot coffee every morning, her favorite sweets and fruits, watching Wheel of Fortune and Family Feud, and having her hair brushed multiple times a day. At 94 she still made it up and down stairs, carefully and slowly, at least a few times a week, often commenting that “I love having a two story home, but it is hard to grow old .” She had some mild dementia and she would tell people she only stopped driving “a few years ago” even though it had been about 2 decades and she would swear she took a shower “last night” even though it had been a few days. But she always recognized her husband, her daughters and family members who visited.