Camilo Tapia Jamilosa

On May 3, 1946, Camilo Tapia Jamilosa was born to Eulalio Q. Jamilosa and Guillerma Tapia in Lingayan, Philippines. Eulalio was a colonel in the Philippine Commonwealth Army during World War II. Camilo was the eldest son, and the second eldest among seven children; Lina, Camilo, Eddie, Wilfredo, Evelyn, Brenda and Dennis. As a youngster, Camilo and his younger brother Eddie liked to climb guava trees to get the fruit that Eulalio would wrap in brown bags to protect them from the birds. After consuming the guavas, they would re-wrap the stems leaving Eulalio to wonder what happened to the fruit. Sometime later, the Jamilosa family moved to Project 6, an area of Quezon City, where Camilo spent his youth. He graduated from the University of the East in Manila. Camilo received a degree in accounting and one of his first jobs in that profession was at Planned Parenthood.

In the late 1960s, Camilo immigrated to the United States and married Evelina “Belen” Olayta. Their eldest son Andrew was born on July 26, 1968 in Gary, Indiana. Soon after Michael was born on August 25, 1969 lastly Kenneth was born May 24, 1971. The boys were all born at St. Mary’s Hospital, the same hospital where entertainer Michael Jackson was born. Camilo would tell stories to the children before they went to sleep. His young family lived in Chicago for a few years before moving to the Aetna section of Gary.

When Camilo’s mother came to the United States in the early 1970’s, she eventually went on to be the governess of James Flannery, a president of White Way Signs, whose father founded the business. White Way is the light and sign company that put up many of the fancy neon signs across some of Chicago’s landmark buildings. When the Flannery family went on their fabulous vacations, Guillerma was generally given free rein of the mansion and club house. Of course, the extended family and friends had many memorable gatherings in Barrington, Illinois at the Flannery abode.

Social life in Northwestern Indiana and Chicagoland was extremely active and rich. They went to frequent family gatherings held by the in-law patriarch Ponciano Olayta and his wife Sally at their home in the slightly hilly area of lovely Miller. Ponciano ran a martial arts school there and much of the extended family’s social life revolved around his students, family friends and relatives who came in from Illinois, Ohio, and Indianapolis. Camilo helped build Ponciano and Sally’s backyard pool, lugging cement blocks and moving wheelbarrows. He was also a student of Ponciano’s. Ponciano was so involved in activism that he hosted a re-election campaign party for Mayor Richard G. Hatcher, one of the first black mayors of a sizeable American city, in 1975. Camilo forgot to wake Andrew up so he could meet the mayor.

During the mid-70s, Camilo enjoyed tinkering with his yellow Volkswagen Rabbit in the detached garage. He also enjoyed playing his Framus acoustic guitar, playing along to his Elvis Presley, Beatles and Ventures records. When playing bass guitar, one of his favorite pieces to play along to was the “Theme from S.W.A.T.”

Camilo also helped build the wood car that got Andrew third place during the Cub Scout pinewood derby race.

One day in 1975 at home in Aetna, Andrew looked out the window and noticed hordes of bell-bottomed teenagers standing on a lawn across the street. He asked Camilo, “Dad, what are they doing?” And Camilo replied, “Oh they’re students from two different high schools having an argument.”

Then as the 1970’s were drawing to a close, family vacations frequently wound up in Florida during the winter. Ponciano eventually decided that it was time to leave the snowy climes of Indiana. The Olaytas eventually and permanently wintered out in Clearwater, Florida. During one visit, Camilo and Evelina decided to have Andrew and Kenneth stay with the Olaytas in preparation of moving down to Clearwater as well. Then in 1979, the move was made as Camilo, Evelina and Michael left Gary for good.

After staying with the Olaytas initially, Camilo and Evelina got a house on Sunset Point Road in Clearwater in 1980 and lived there for three years. The neighbors there developed a friendly bond with them and had many get-togethers and block parties. While living in Clearwater, Camilo worked for the neighboring City of Largo as an account. In some of his spare time, he enjoyed playing the Space Invaders game on the Atari set with the kids. He also liked to laugh at the kids playing along with their neighborhood friends while watering the lawn. Sometimes he would say, “Okay now, it’s time to mow the grass!”

The extended family and social life in Clearwater was also very rich and active though not quite as dynamic as their Indiana days.

The year 1982 was moving along and economic opportunities were booming in Houston. The moving vans had Camilo’s family relocating there. He found employment with DePelchin Faith Home in short order. Surprisingly, most of Camilo’s siblings had immigrated to America, specifically Houston, in 1979 and gave encouragement for him to find his fortune in the Space City. This was the beginning of Camilo and Evelina’s tennis-oriented social life. Many weekends were spent playing tennis with their friends and having singing parties at their home in the Keegan’s Glen neighborhood and then later on in the adjacent Meadows, TX when they moved there in 1985.

Tough economic times hit Houston in 1986, the nice house in Meadows was on the verge of foreclosure and Camilo was laid off from Depelchin. After Michael’s high school graduation in 1987, he went to Dallas to pursue his new life with his Uncle Dennis. The movers packed up the belongings at the home in Meadows. Camilo, Evelina, Kenneth and Andrew drove back down to Clearwater, Florida. Evelina had an apartment ready and soon after unpacking, Camilo departed while Andrew and Kenneth remained with Evelina. It was the last time they were a couple and thus the last chapter of the old family nucleus ended and new lives began.

In 1988, Camilo generally wound up living with Guillerma and Eddie. They once stayed at an apartment in Houston’s New Chinatown area, off Corporate Drive. Then the three signed for a nice two-story house in the Sharpstown area during the middle of that year. This was the residence known as Clarewood. There was an interim period where Camilo lived in another house near Houston Baptist University, but returned to Clarewood in the late 1990’s.

Clarewood was something of a Jamilosa family boarding house with a revolving door. At first it was Camilo, Guillerma and Eddie. Andrew and Kenneth were in and out in the late 1980s and early 1990’s. Evelyn however stayed briefly during the late 1980’s, while Lina and Dennis lived there in the early 1990’s. Eddie passed away in 1991, leaving an enormous hole in the family and in other ways. Dennis returned and his family resided in Clarewood in the mid-90s. The one constant household member through all the revolving was Guillerma. Generally throughout the 2000’s, it was Camilo and Guillerma residing at Clarewood with Andrew living there in 1997 and then for a final time in 2004. In 1999, the family patriarch Eulalio passed away.

Camilo accomplished his goal of becoming a Certified Public Accountant, but at some point in his life became weary of number-crunching. In 2004, he joined a venture in small-size snack machines that were of the variety that went in office spaces as opposed to the huge machines that were placed in outdoor locations. The logistics of maintaining such an operation were not worth the trouble and expense, so he went and continued his accounting profession. As Guillerma was getting older, sometime in 2005, Camilo left his profession for good to provide full-time care for his mother.

The intervening years had been fairly simple for Camilo and Guillerma aside from some family road trips for weddings and vacations. They made a hobby out of playing the lottery. Evelyn, Brenda, Andrew and his wife Aileen would periodically stop by to check on them and bring some food to Clarewood, other times taking them out to eat. Brenda once used Milo and Guillerma’s humorous interactions as part of her Toastmasters speech when she entered and won first place at a contest.

Then in October 2011, Guillerma passed away which was a devastating event for the family.

Evelyn, Brenda, Andrew and Aileen continued the routine of visiting Camilo and taking him out to eat. He enjoyed his Virgil’s Root Beer delivered and lunches at Fadi’s Café where he looked forward to his lamb shank

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On December 3, 2015 Camilo T. Jamilosa was called to Home.