Querubin Camilon Sanchez

Dr. Querubin Sanchez had a very full life in the literal sense. He was a man who truly had the audacity to hope and the tenacity to make those lofty dreams come true. He was a physician dedicated to an impoverished community and that community cherished him back. He absolutely loved his daughters. He was a father who proudly saw all three of his girls become the doctors he was so passionately determined that they become. He was a loving grandfather who didn’t hold back on critical opinions, no matter how halting his voice became. He joyfully gave the stink-eye to the boys his granddaughters brought around, a withering stare and silence he had mastered on those young men who courted his daughters. He was overjoyed with meeting his great-grandchildren but he stated he would have loved it more with his wife by his side. He was a proud man who hated the complications of growing old. Sometimes he was a curmudgeon and sometimes was a sweet and sensitive man. He was never a fan of joining bandwagons and he was the most stubborn of patients. He complained and he cried and he laughed and he teased. He was also a human being who carried the toll of a childhood defined by rejection and poverty. He faced a formidable set of internal struggles. It took him a long time to learn how to honor the word love, but in the end, he really did. He changed and grew, when people normally think one is way past the age of being able to find the flexibility and the fortitude for personal growth. Whatever memories you hold onto about him, my hope is you find one that honors that struggle, because I think the success he found, though later in life, is what makes him an exceptional man. For better or for worse, Lola Fely and his daughters stood by him. I don’t think it would honor her sacrifice or the memory of his love for her, if the struggle and the not so pretty parts were glossed over. There are many ways to be a father that one can look up to. One of the ways I look up to him, is he is a man who overcame so much. After our Lola’s passing, he often told me, that one of his biggest regrets, is it took him so long to be the husband his wife deserved. But he did it. It may not have been for long. But he figured it out. In some ways, there is more heart in that. More heart because it was not an easy road for him. Lolo, may your new journey bring you quickly to Lola. Though some of us will claim you as our favorite, we all know that she was yours.

~ Marie Ong Tighe ~