Herminia A Garcia

Herminia Estanislawa Abelardo Garcia, also known as Miniang or Hermie, was born November 13, 1940 in Manila, Philippines, to Aurora and Leon Abelardo of San Miguel, Bulacan. She was the third of five siblings, with two elder brothers and two younger sisters. She is survived by her two children, Erwin Alexander (married to Merly) and Erik Anthony (married to Patricia), and four grandchildren - Chelsea, Joshua, Nina, and Kevin.

Miniang lost her father Leon when she was not quite six years old, when he died of a sudden illness at the young age of 35. His death brought the family hardship, as her mother Aurora suddenly found herself with five young children to raise alone, the youngest only five months old. Yet she managed heroically to bring them all up and have them all finish college. Growing up taught Miniang the value of hard work, which prepared her and siblings for their life’s journey into adulthood. The Abelardo children all learned to cook as their mother enlisted their help daily in making chicken sandwiches to sell at the local school canteen. It was Miniang’s task to kill the chickens for this! Her sister Vegie said Miniang was always the hardest worker among the siblings, with a non-nonsense attitude, a lot of courage and daring, and plenty of compassion.

After graduating high school at Manila Central University, she completed a college degree in Nutrition at Philippine Womens’ University. She then got accepted into a two-year foreign exchange internship at Nashville, Tennessee. During this time, she engaged in a long distance courtship with Elmer Garcia, whom she had met when he was a boarder at the Abelardo family home in Manila. She returned to the Philippines after finishing her internship, working as a dietitian at Vanderbilt University Hospital and then at the US Embassy’s Seafront snack bar. Soon after, her boyfriend Elmer got hired as an engineer with Fluor Corporation in Los Angeles, so in 1966 they decided to marry and immediately left for the US to begin a new chapter of their life.

They spent eight years in their home in La Mirada, California where her two boys were born, in 1967 and 1970. In 1974, Elmer accepted a job to work for Aramco, an oil company in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia where the family settled for 26 years, creating lifelong friendships.

Even though she lived far from her siblings, she still felt a responsibility to care for them. She would visit Baby and Mario in Florida, and Ding in Montreal, to be with their families, and regularly sent balikbayan boxes to Vegie in Metro Manila. This generosity extended beyond the family to other people in need, particularly to the household helpers of Vegie, whom she saw as her surrogate caretakers when she herself could not be present. Those balikbayan boxes were always welcomed with great delight, especially at Christmas! If she saw a need she would offer aid - once she noticed a friend of a friend had bad teeth, and paid for her dental work, though she did not know her well. She paid for Vegie’s driver Romel’s eyeglasses and bought his sister Inday an e-bike so she would not have to walk to the market. The five-year-old son of another maid got a bike, and another maid was lent enough money to finish building their house. She also gave financial support for a seminarian’s studies for the priesthood, which continues to this day, and donated to another priest’s project. During this last Christmas, as with previous years, she gave her former maids and their families, among a long list of people, large cash gifts. Her top “love language” was giving - she would often sacrifice her own pleasure for the happiness of others.

After Elmer retired in 2000, they settled in Chula Vista, California. Here they held court over the years, hosting visiting family and friends. On one particularly joyous occasion in July 2011, the remaining Abelardo siblings and their families had a grand reunion there. But probably her greatest joy was watching her grandchildren growing into fine and talented young women and men. She and Elmer were their Wawa and Wowo, always celebrating their milestones with them, worrying about them, and making sure they wanted for nothing.

Hermie lost her beloved Elmer to progressive supranuclear palsy in May 2015. After his death, she continued to live independently in Fredericka Manor, where she had stayed with Elmer during his illness, for eight more years. The staff there all loved her as their “Nanay”, their adoptive mom away from home. She would take bags of lemons harvested from Erik’s lemon trees and share them with the nurses. These nurses were also the ones in hospice who would care for her when her time came to follow Elmer.

Family and friends will remember Miniang for many things. For one, she was a food lover who enjoyed feeding them. In Saudi Arabia she would prepare a feast on special occasions for the Filipino kababayans in their community. She was also the go-to person for birthday or special occasion cakes - this was her side-hustle in Saudi and she earned quite a bit for her tasty and beautiful creations. Years later, she shared with her niece Lia her secret recipe for those cakes - she used Duncan Hines Devil’s Food cake mix! And whenever she went home to the US, she would stock up on cake mix boxes to bring back to Saudi. At Frederika Manor, she was legendary as the Filipino lady who would always bring Filipino food to all the nurses at the FM Care Center, the skilled nursing facility. She would even hold demonstrations on how to cook pancit! Her niece and goddaughter Anna particularly enjoyed her dinuguan, which even her white American husband found delicious. One of Miniang’s favorite foods was also Elmer’s favorite - crispy pata! And her last meal before her first stroke last December was a big bowl of batchoy, bibingka, and puto bungbong. Food was definitely another love language that she was fluent in!

She and Elmer loved to travel - they took their kids to many trips around the world, and particularly enjoyed cruises. Once she was the lead organizer of a Disney Cruise with Erwin’s & Erik’s families, plus over 20 other friends, during which she was constantly working to ensure everyone was having a good time, sometimes at the expense of her own enjoyment, for she always put others first.

Hermie was also a faithful and devoted member of her Cursillo community. She and Elmer even took a trip with them to the Holy Land, a special and memorable time for them that grew their relationship with each other and with God, which was felt throughout the family.

And she loved music, especially that of her favorite artist, Lea Salonga. Last year she was thrilled to finally cross off an item on her bucket list, to see Lea live in concert. In her last days, while she lay in bed unable to communicate, Erwin would play her music which seemed to comfort and soothe her.

On her last trip to the Philippines in November and December 2022, Miniang enjoyed days of travelling through the countryside, eating her favorite Filipino foods, and even delighting in karaoke singing and dancing during the joyful joint celebration of her 82nd and Vegie’s 80th birthdays. She was happy and grateful for all her life’s blessings, and leaves this world enriched by her generosity of self. She will be remembered well and missed very much. Rest in peace, Hermie, we hold you forever in our hearts.