Romeo V. Garcia

THE LIFE OF ROMEO VILLALON GARCIA September 25, 1926 - March 9, 2018 At the 1925 Far Eastern Championship Games the athletics events were held in the Philippines in May. A total of 19 men's athletics events were contested at the competition. It was the first time that track events were conducted over the international standard metric distances, changing from the imperial distances that previously featured at the competition. The Philippines returned to the top of the medal table in the athletics program. The hosts won all but six of the nineteen events, placed in the top two in 16 of them, and completed medal sweeps in seven events. Japan was the next best with five gold medals and medal sweeps in the triple jump and 1500 meters. China again performed poorly, matching their previous edition's haul of two athletics medals of one gold and one bronze medal. Specifically, in the 400 meters event, it was also an all-Filipino sweep. Francisco Danao got the gold medal with the time of 51.2 seconds and Roger Paredes got the bronze --- and Crispin Garcia got the silver. After about a year, Crispin Garcia and Mary (Maria) Villalon were gifted their first child from God: a son who they named ROMEO VILLALON GARCIA. Today we remember and celebrate the life of Romeo. He was a strong guide and support to his sister Erlinda and brothers Junior (deceased) and Crismel in their early years in the Philippines. The three of them further brightened the lives of Crispin and Mary. Romeo graduated high school in 1947 from La Union High School and finished his B.S. Commerce degree in 1951 at Far Eastern University, Philippines. Romeo married Roberta Valera in1949. Romeo worked for Shell Oil Petroleum Company for 25 years and was assigned from the northern to the southern islands in the Philippines, moving the whole family with him. He came to the US in 1986 and worked in a chemical laboratory in L.A. owned by his sister and brother-in- law, Erlinda and the late Emilio. He left his position shortly thereafter, to help care for his ailing mother, the late Mary Villalon-Keith, in Orosi. He lived with Roberta in an apartment in Orosi since 2001. Romeo and Roberta were married and lived together for 69 years. In the 69 years of their union, they were blessed with five sons (Francis, Romeo Jr., Dennis the third, Roberto and Edgar), two daughters (Cynthia Marie and Maria Rowena), two sons-in-law (Don and Gilmer), four daughters-in-Law (Cris, Jane, Pilar and Elena) and nephews and nieces in the Philippines and the U.S. Romeo was also blessed with 13 grandkids (Gina, Isi, Kelly, Frankie, Michael, Julian, Joshua, Abby, Gabrielle, Matthew, Dennis Jr., Patricia, Hannah and Joseph) and nine great grand kids (Taylor, Rylan, Kiana, Tre, Aiden, Evan, Naythan, Adam) and another great grandson on the way in August of this year. Papa Romy loved solving his crossword puzzle, playing card games, and was a die-hard LA Dodgers and LA Lakers fan. When not busy indoors cooking, he could always be found tending to his succulent plants. He relished spending time with kids and grandkids. He loved his lobster and steak meal at Sizzlers. He enjoyed serving at the Orosi Catholic church and on some days, he would help with the communion services, visiting the homes of the ones who could not make it during the first Friday communion. On some days, he would help translate the priest's sermon to English. Whether he was feeling well or not, Papa would always leave the house well-dressed with his matching shiny shoes. Papa was always known to be very stern, yet loving, strict, yet quick to laugh, and was very organized and methodical in his ways. He was always highly regarded by his neighbors when it came to his opinion in filling out their forms or letters and they would even call him the "engineer." In his last few days in the hospital, even when he felt he could no longer breathe well, he would always say "my beautiful wife" to mama, "my beautiful children" to us kids and "my wonderful nurses" to all his caregivers. He would say, "I love you even more" as we kissed him goodnight after each visit. He would pray the Lord's Prayer clearly before every night we spent together. He will be in our hearts and minds. And we will always cherish the rich and meaningful memories he lived with us.