Mini-Reunion in April 2015

 Mama Virgie joined her cousins in a mini- reunion of the Atega clan in Butuan in April (will get exact date first) 2015. She said they had a good time and promised each other that they would meet at least once a year to catch up.

Note that Mama is in her early eighties, so I surmise that her cousins must be around 5 years older or younger than her. The rest of them are either in God's loving embrace, or at the brink of being summoned by St. Peter, or in retirement haven, looking forward to gatherings like this or ballroom dancing and Church activities to while away their time.

There was dancing, food and of course a lot of stories on the table. And the old folks, to include the not-so-old ones like the Mayor of Butuan himself, Dr. Ferdinand Atega Amante, Jr., had a good time. Laughter and remembrance highlighted the occasion.

The organizer of the reunion was 99-year old Juana Atega Montilla of Butuan. I still have to look her up in the family tree, though. Mama calls her Mana Juana. And she is among the old ones who knew my great grandfather, Juan Atega and Lolo Belo.

Among the things that Mana Juana pointed out was one of the details that I wrote in my blog about the historical account in the book of Greg Hontiveros. Hontiveros wrote that some priests, who were then taken ‘prisoners’ during the upheaval led by General Aguinaldo, stopped by the house of Juan Atega before they proceeded to Surigao where they would be detained for a time. 

Mana Juana said that Juan Atega’s house must have been prominent for it to be a halfway house for the friars who were highly regarded in their community. She wondered where this house could be.

Mama also promised to jot down notes on things she remembers from things past --something I have requested her to do long, long ago. Hope she can give me more details of how she and her sister Ansel took care of their Lolo Juan in his twilight years and how they looked at him helplessly as he rattled off instructions in Spanish, a language they never bothered to learn.

As Juan Atega was Juez dela Primera Istancia, he wrote his dispositions in Spanish. Maybe he learned the language formally or he was just forced by the situation to learn the same.

There is so much to uncover from my interesting family line. I hope that we can unearth more and know more about each other so that the succeeding generations do not have to search as much.