I also touched base with other Ategas
online to check if they knew of Juan Atega and his three children or heard of
him or them being mentioned in the inner circles of the clan.
I got this very encouraging reply to my
private message on Facebook:
“The JUAN ATEGA line will be attested by the children
of Virgilio Atega (son of Don Andres Atega and Juana – daughter of Teofilo
Curato Noja, first cousin of Curato sisters Roberta (legal wife of Don Andres)
and Veronica…”
It came from Moses Joshua Atega, son of Judge
Virgilio Noja Atega, whom I have never met but has accepted my
earlier friend request on Facebook. I understand he handles the communications
department of Silliman University in Dumaguete City.
Memories flood decades back. As a young girl, I thought kissing Lolo Virgil's hand was in itself an honor as I considered him a cut above the rest-- his was this cool, calm grace of the learned kind. Also, I have always
been fascinated by his sharp Castilian features and have often wondered why, oh
why, I was not among cousins who were blessed with such fine Atega nasal
structure.
As mentioned by Moses in his blog, Taken
from the Water, “Papa’s Power of the Peridot”,
“My father came from a family which indeed was like a mother stone of
the peridot, so green and with many unpredictable branching—some were from
stories intentionally silenced by the complexities of the pedigree.”
Does this partly explain why Juan Atega
is unlisted in the family tree? But then again, it leaves more questions than
answers.
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