DALLAS, May 11, 2008 / — Although she was studying to be a school teacher, Lucila Conde Oblena begun teaching even before she graduated because World War II broke out and there was a shortage of teachers. To her, it was not just a job; it was a vocation as she dedicated her life shaping the minds of the young.

An educator for 45 years, wherein 30 were spent as a classroom teacher and 15 as a principal, she came to the United States after she retired. Her energy has not abated. She founded the Cavinti Laguna Overseas Teachers Association (CLOTA) after she arrived in southern California.

Widowed when her two children were very young, she sent both of them to college as a single mom. And, just when things were looking as if she can spend her golden years quietly while still serving the Cavinti community, tragedy struck. Her youngest son (actually the younger of her two children) met an untimely and tragic death.

Lucy Oblena and her son Totoy in Jakarta Indonesia
Lucila C. Oblena (left) with her son Medardo “Totoy” Oblena during a 1996 trip to Jakarta, Indonesia

Her heart breaking, she found the strength to go on. She continued to lead CLOTA until she could officially turn it over to the next President (currently Geline Lazaro of New York) and then she decided to start her own blog (www.tipakan.com) to facilitate communication between and among the Cavinti diaspora scattered all over the world.

As a child, my mother Lucila C. Oblena was a strict parent. She never broke my spirit though; hence, I grew up very independent to the point that more often than not, I am headstrong. She had always encouraged me to be curious. And, because she describes herself as a coward, she taught me to be brave.

As I entered middle age, I realized that I grew up to be my mother, except that I never had any children and no one looks up at me the way I look up at my mom. Like my mother wherein tragedies in her life made her stronger, I also found myself finding strength in all the challenges that I faced.

‘No one is too old to learn,’ she always tells me that. Following her own advice, Lucila C. Oblena learned how to send email when she was 75; she learned sending SMS or text messages when she was 80. At 83, she started blogging, something that teens and 20-something do. In fact, if she is not the oldest blogger in the world, she must be one of the oldest.

Every Mother’s Day, instead of sending her a card, I usually write an Op-Ed and/or a blog about her; today, it feels good that I am publishing this in her own blog. Happy Mother’s Day, Nanay!

[MARI OBLENA DAVIS]