OCTOBER 29 was a day of celebration and gratitude for the huge Villa-Abrille clan. It was the 80th birthday of their beloved Dr. Milagros del Rio Villa-Abrille.
Eldest nephew Attorney Antonio V.A. Tan welcomed 250 relatives and friends at the Marco Polo Grand Ballroom for a sumptuous buffet and a program of music and dance.
"Tia Alot," as she is fondly called by her 38 nephews and nieces and 91 grandnephews and grandnieces, was born to Carlos Villa-Abrille and Casiana del Rio on October 29, 1927.
She is the 8th child, one of eight girls and two boys. In Chinese tradition, she is the lucky child, the family's good luck charm.
When the Japanese Imperial Forces invaded Davao in December 1941, Alot was 14 years old. Her schooling was interrupted and like all the children during World War II, she had her share of heartbreaking separations, evacuations and hardships.
For high school, Alot went to Davao City High School where she graduated in 1947. Like her sisters who went to Manila for their college education, Alot studied at the University of the Philippines to complete her B.S. in Education from 1947-51.
She came home to Davao after graduation and became a teacher at the Ateneo de Davao. From 1952 up to 1957, Alot was active in the Girls Scouts Movement and was an executive of the GSP Davao Council.
At age 30, Alot went to the US to take her Masters in Education, major in Guidance and Counseling, at Miami University in Ohio in 1957-58, then proceeded to Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, for her Doctorate in Education.
In 1970, at age 43, Alot came home to the Philippines and worked at the Philippine Women's College of Davao, a school that her father Carlos helped establish in 1952.
At PWC, she became guidance counselor, head for Student Services, a high school teacher, and a professor at the College Department. She also became active in the PWC Girls Scouts.
In 1980, Alot went back to the United States, this time in Louisville, Kentucky. She worked as a medical volunteer and social worker and continuously resided in the USA up to the early 1990s, coming home to Davao City only for brief vacations.
In 1992, Alot turned 65 and retired from her social work in the U.S. She came back to Davao and became President of Carlos Villa-Abrille & Sons, Inc. from 1993 to 1994.
Today, she continues to keep herself busy by actively participating in the Carmelite Lay Secular Order and the Marian Movement.
