Granddad Macario Jastillana (January 2, 1913 - July 22, 2008)

[Jean Jastillana]

Dear friends,

 

On behalf of my family, I just wanted to inform you that our grandfather and family patriarch (from our dad's side), Macario Jastillana, passed away today at 2:00pm, Pacific time, at a hospital ER in southern California. He was 95.

It was sort of expected, since he is at that age, and also because of an ever weakening heart that he had been dealing with for a long time. Still, as our small group leader told me tonight, nothing can really prepare you for that kind of stuff (like your grandfather passing away).

I was definitely upset when I heard the news. My paternal grandparents (who were married more than 50 years before my grandmother passed away in 1994) have always figured very prominently and importantly in my life, and they were both the kind of people who always encouraged me to go after my dreams. They were the ones who cheered me on since I was little, whenever I sang my heart out at music school recitals. They were at practically every school performance I had when I was growing up many, many years ago. I was always at their house when I still lived back in Manila, hanging out and eating their food and swimming in their pool. :)  They always looked out for their family: sons, daughters, in laws, grandchildren. And most of all? I always knew and felt my grandparents' love. I never felt lacking of that. It was that love and care and encouragement that has, in part, made me who I am today.

 

Some of my fondest memories of my grandfather include me singing to him, upon his request, whether it be on a "minus-one" karaoke machine or a Barbie radio that they had given me as a gift when I was about two or three... right around the time they discovered I could actually hold a note and be in tune. (My grandmother was actually the one who heard me singing first, not my parents. Imagine that. Haha.) Another one would be when I'd use a play doctor's kit that I got for my birthday, when I was about four, and I would sprinkle baby powder on my grandfather's chest and declare him "sick" and in need of my medical expertise. I remember him being really patient with my antics and laughing while observing what I was trying to do. I remember him and my grandmother constantly quizzing me and asking me what I wanted to do when I grew up, and I'd say "a doctor". I think that til the very end, they both held on to that idea and in later years, my grandfather would still ask me on visits if I was still headed towards med school. :) They constantly doted on me, as their youngest granddaughter, and never failed to bring home a little something for me whenever they made the trip to visit me in the Philippines (they were based on Guam for most of my childhood). Because of them, I learned to love Almond Roca, Mrs. Fields cookies, and received a hot pair of then-coveted L.A. Gears that lit up when I walked. I am immensely grateful to God for having given me such amazing grandparents; I will treasure the memories I have had with them.

 

I'm blessed to have been able to spend his last birthday with him, to have seen him one last time way back in January of this year. I'm glad that when I finally moved to the U.S. mainland, I got to see him during most of breaks I had from school.

I will definitely miss him. But at least, he's with my Grandma now :) And hopefully, having a lot of fun reuniting with her... and even better, moving around with no chest pains to worry about.

We're definitely making a trip to California for my Granddad's wake and eventual burial, depending on what the next couple steps are in terms of arrangements and planning by my dad and his siblings.

Your thoughts and prayers are all appreciated at this time. Thank you.

 

On behalf of the entire Jastillana family,

Jean