Ester Ala Tongo

Ester Ala Tongo passed away peacefully on December 6, 2011. To friends, she was Mrs. Ester Tongo or Aling Ester. To relatives, she was fondly called Manay Ting or Tiya. However, to her family she was simply called MAMA.

She was born on May 28, 1918 to Julian Ala of Legaspi, Albay and Carmen Abundo of Viga, Catanduanes, in the Philippine Islands. She was the third of five children. Both of her parents were in the local political scene, her mother was a councilwoman and her father was the elected mayor of their town. She went to Misamis Occidental High School in Mindanao while living with her older brother. She went on to college at Mindanao Academy and majored in Home Economics. She started working as a teacher in Oroquieta, Misamis Occidental, where she taught Home Economics in an elementary school. She eventually returned to Viga to continue her teaching career.

One day, she met a young and debonair gentleman who just came home from serving in the military. His name was Tongo... Carlos Tongo. He swept her off her feet and on December 27, 1952, they got married. They had four children: Virgilia, Teresita, Roberto, and Melissa. Virgilia and Teresita were born in Viga, Catanduanes. Shortly after, the family moved to Manila, where Roberto and Melissa were born. In Manila, Mama taught Home Economics at Ramon Magsaysay Elementary School, where she stayed active in other activities besides teaching. In 1970, the Tongo family decided to immigrate to the US and chose San Francisco, California as their future home. Mama and Papa worked at Bank of America in the city. A few years later, they bought their first home at Oneida Street. In 1979, they finally moved to Daly City. The family call it "Mama's House".

She retired from Bank of America in 1983 after 13 years of service. Their four children eventually started families of their own and collectively gave Mama and Papa nine grandchildren, and a great granddaughter.

Their eldest daughter Virgi married Jam Faustino and they have two boys: Ryan, 31, and Joel, 30. Ryan married Cheryl Magno, and they both have a daughter, Emery, 2 months. Joel is engaged to marry his fiancee Jennifer Yao.

Tessie, their second daughter married the late Benny Reyes. They have a son, Alan Joseph, or AJ for short. He is 16. Roberto married Juvy Avelino and they have four girls: Samantha, 18, Chanda, 16, Leah, 13, and, Hannah, 11. Finally, Melissa, their youngest daughter, married Mark Sweeney and they have two girls: Renee, 17, and Rachel, 11.

The close-knit family celebrated birthdays, anniversaries, Christmases, and other occasions TOGETHER … AS ONE BIG FAMILY. They also hosted several friends and other relatives who come to visit. Family members would go to Mama's house just to hang out and perhaps play music and mahjong with whomever happened to be there. That was a very good excuse to go there and eat Mama's deliciously prepared meals like kare-kare, humba, and sotanghon. After all, she didn't teach Home Economics for nothing!! On December 2002, Mama and Papa celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, renewing their vows at St. Augustine's Church in Daly City. For vacations, they typically would go back to Viga, Catanduanes. In fact they liked going to Viga so much that they decided to build a house there. Then eight years ago, Mama and Papa finally fulfilled their dream of traveling to Europe. Mama brought a black hat and traveled all around Europe wearing it in London, Rome, Pisa, Venice, and Paris.

Ester Ala Tongo, daughter, sister, student, teacher, dancer, wife, mother, grandmother, and of course great grandmother. She was very proud of her family and her legacy will live on through them.