Obituary

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In Loving Memory of

Lucia Parcarey Gendrano

March 4, 1930- August 14, 2003

               

                Lucia Parcarey Gendrano, 73, passed away Monday in Torrance, near her hometown of Carson. Known to most as “Lucy”, she died peacefully with her family by her side at Torrance Memorial Hospital on August 14, 2003.

                Born on March 4, 1930 in the small town of Pitogon, in the Quezon province of the Philippines, Lucy attended a high school in a neighboring city named Los Banos. This is where she would meet her high school sweetheart and future husband, Victor Gendrano. Unbeknown to Victor, Lucy left town after her second year to work for her home town University in order to have her future college tuition paid for. Employed by and schooling at Santa Isabelle College, Lucy went on to graduate in 1955, and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education. She also had teaching credentials as a bi-lingual teacher in English and Tagalog.

                Later in the summer, by a chance encounter, Lucy happened to be at the same bus stop as Victor who was visiting Pitogon and had not seen Lucy in years. From that moment on, they never lost connection, as Victor had vowed to never let her go again.  In fact, Victor had not let Lucy go back home without him and stayed overnight. The couple went on to get married in 1958 in Lucy’s home city.

                After the wedding Victor convinced Lucy to move back Los Banos with him, and pushed her to use her passion for teaching and apply for a teaching job at the local elementary school. Lucy agreed and eventually landed a job at the school, while Victor was the town’s local librarian. After having six children, the couple decided that in order to give them the best opportunity to succeed they needed to immigrate to the United States. The family of eight officially moved to Los Angeles, California in 1972.

                Both Victor and Lucy both immediately found jobs in the same positions they occupied in the Philippines, a librarian and elementary school teacher respectively. Lucy taught at Vernon elementary school in the Los Angeles Unified school district while her husband was the county’s librarian. Lucy was rarely seen without her husband, and the two enjoyed many hobbies together. One of Lucy’s favorites was flower-arranging and gardening. The two also maintained long standing memberships at St. Philomena Catholic church in Carson and were fixtures there.

                Lucy loved two things the most: her family and teaching. In fact she had taught at Vernon for 30 years before retiring. During her retirement, she often took weekend trips with her husband to Laughlin and Las Vegas, Nevada. The two enjoyed to gamble together. When she wasn’t on the road, she loved keeping track of what was going on in her home country. She would often watch a channel with Filipino programming which also had the local news broadcasts of her home city.

                Lucy is survived by her husband Victor, her children: Victor Jr., Lorna, Manny, Marissa, Romeo and Juliet. As well as her grandchildren: Jasmine, Liezl, Cherise, Vincent, Kira, Camille and Christopher.

                Her funeral is scheduled for Friday at 1 p.m. at All Souls Mortuary, 4400 Cherry Ave., Long Beach, CA.