Sari, Sari

SARI …. SARI

When I first met our PWU classmate, Rosario E. Valenzuela ….. Sari for short, way back in 1956, she was in a black sleeveless dress, still mourning for her late grandfather Dr. Pio Valenzuela, the revolutionary (a place in Bulacan is now named after her grandfather).

I remember Sari during our high school days as a basketball player, giggling while dribbling theball. Then we associated her with then the much acclaimed film “Alexander the Great”. Kamukha niya si Alexander, di ba? Am sure you also remember Sari ringing the bell with her arm outside the window on the 3rd floor to let everyone know the class period was over. And all of a sudden there was no more ringing. Did Sari fall out of the window or did the bell fall apart?

Sari went to college at the State University for her nutrition degree. The next time I was in touch with her was at a PWU HS 1960 reunion in Chicago in the late 1960’s. I enjoyed her company, that of Wena Noble, the late Lourdes Reyes and Olive Abella, among others. Then I stayed overnight at her place in Madison, Wisconsin where she based as a dietitian in 1969. It was also the first time that the first man landed in the moon and who incidentally graduated from the same school which I attended then. Tsismis - na meet ko ang BF niya noon - a pathologist from U.P.

In the early 1970’s, Sari and I found ourselves back in the Philippines as balikbayans together with Cherrie Silva. We would meet on weekends in our parent’s home, in her work place at the Manila Yatch Club or elsewhere. I remember that Sari was always cool as a boss in spite of the accuracy requirements in time, space and quality in the food service business. Sari was always poised, never under stress with the waiters even at peak hours like 12:00 noon on weekends. Let me narrate an amazing anecdote: Circa 1972 the late Mrs. Reyes, our former biology teacher saw Sari and Cherrie at the Makati Shopping Centre and said with astonishment: “You’re still together?”. That was 12 years after high school graduation!

Sari and her relatives have always been hospitable even in many parts of the globe: in 1975 in Pennsylvania; in 1976 in Singapore through her Ditse and late brother-in-law - Mr. and Mrs. Kong; in late 1980s and 1999 in Paris and Brittany, France through her youngest sister Araceli Valenzuela d’Aboville; in Geneva, Switzerland, through her aunt, Dr. Rosalinda Garcia Valenzuela; and in 1999 in New York where she showed a lot of the Big Apple to my German husband Heinz and me. There, I also met Hortense Ramos (after 29 years) and Fe Ilagan. That was fun!

Up to now, Sari tags me along to PWU reunions, etc., etc,, etc. when we find ourselves together in the Philippines (she visited her father in Valenzuela City every year on his birthday) or elsewhere. She can drive in New York, Manila and Europe. She comes to visit us in a rented car to Germany and other parts of Europe. Sari, Sari remember? Thanks for a wonderful friendship.
By Patricia Arroyo Staub