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| At home with her daughter |
While I was preparing to attend the funeral of my first cousin’s wife, I took time to view the rebroadcast of the Priesthood Session of the General Conference in the church. Right after the conclusion of the session, my foster daughter immediately informed me that they received a call that my elder sister Senecia, our eldest sibling, passed away early in the morning of the same day---October 7, 2017.
She is 82 years old. She is survived by her husband; seven children; twenty four grandchildren and twenty six great-grandchildren. She gave birth to eight but one had already gone beyond the veil . She raised her eight children as a fish vendor while her husband was a fisherman and later a janitor in a government office. Life was very hard for them, but they survived. She was a tough woman. For years she had been patiently drinking the cup of her personal gethsemane and had borne her cross to her personal Calvary and Golgotha.
About two months ago she drank the last and most bitter cup and bore the heaviest cross. She was left bedridden after she slid inside the bathroom. She refused to be hospitalized no matter the efforts of her children to convince her. She just bravely fought the pain and distress until her final hour. Surprisingly though, she had not been showing any feelings of discomfort despite her condition. She ate and conversed with her children and visitors. She must have somehow developed such a simple faith as to qualify her for the needed divine miracle and intervention that allowed her to endure her debilitating ordeal. Until last Thursday, she requested for the presence of our sister Virginia at her home. They had been having an enjoyable conversation. On Friday night, in the presence of our sister she ate with gusto her supper which was to be her last, for in the following morning she peacefully submitted to the will of her Maker and leave this frail existence towards her final repose.
Her last hour was convincingly one of peaceful communion with God for she did not even bother to call for help and assistance; not even to awaken her husband beside her as she breathed her last to her final rest.
She is 82 years old. She is survived by her husband; seven children; twenty four grandchildren and twenty six great-grandchildren. She gave birth to eight but one had already gone beyond the veil . She raised her eight children as a fish vendor while her husband was a fisherman and later a janitor in a government office. Life was very hard for them, but they survived. She was a tough woman. For years she had been patiently drinking the cup of her personal gethsemane and had borne her cross to her personal Calvary and Golgotha.
About two months ago she drank the last and most bitter cup and bore the heaviest cross. She was left bedridden after she slid inside the bathroom. She refused to be hospitalized no matter the efforts of her children to convince her. She just bravely fought the pain and distress until her final hour. Surprisingly though, she had not been showing any feelings of discomfort despite her condition. She ate and conversed with her children and visitors. She must have somehow developed such a simple faith as to qualify her for the needed divine miracle and intervention that allowed her to endure her debilitating ordeal. Until last Thursday, she requested for the presence of our sister Virginia at her home. They had been having an enjoyable conversation. On Friday night, in the presence of our sister she ate with gusto her supper which was to be her last, for in the following morning she peacefully submitted to the will of her Maker and leave this frail existence towards her final repose.
Her last hour was convincingly one of peaceful communion with God for she did not even bother to call for help and assistance; not even to awaken her husband beside her as she breathed her last to her final rest.
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| With husband and daughters |
My best memory of my sister Senecia was her being one of the popular fishmongers in the Surigao City public market during her time because of her expertise and skills to cut and butcher large fishes evenly including the fish bones and backbone so that each half have a share of the bones, especially that during those times they were not using weighing scales but sold their fishes by cuts or bundles.
Once, her husband Anacorito, a fisherman was caught in a tropical depression in the midst of the sea aboard a very small motorized fishing boat. As they recognized the oncoming storm they immediately started the engine, but it did not work. While other fishermen where already ashore in the mid of night, our family was very worried about my brother-in-law. The waves become even stronger until the morning. We were losing hope. My sister was crying throughout the night feeling despaired and hopeless. In her thoughts was advanced the feelings of possible pain of losing a marital partner and husband. While impossibility of her husband’s survival was creeping into her mind amidst the heavy rains and raging storm and heaving waves too large and violent, the Almighty’s hands were extended still. With faith and courage and determination her husband and his fishing partner slowly followed their way far back home and eventually berthed in safety.
Once, her husband Anacorito, a fisherman was caught in a tropical depression in the midst of the sea aboard a very small motorized fishing boat. As they recognized the oncoming storm they immediately started the engine, but it did not work. While other fishermen where already ashore in the mid of night, our family was very worried about my brother-in-law. The waves become even stronger until the morning. We were losing hope. My sister was crying throughout the night feeling despaired and hopeless. In her thoughts was advanced the feelings of possible pain of losing a marital partner and husband. While impossibility of her husband’s survival was creeping into her mind amidst the heavy rains and raging storm and heaving waves too large and violent, the Almighty’s hands were extended still. With faith and courage and determination her husband and his fishing partner slowly followed their way far back home and eventually berthed in safety.
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| With five of her children |
On another occasion, while again in a deep sea fishing, one of her husband’s best friends joined with him and his regular fishing buddy. Suddenly an unexpected thunderstorm with flashes of lightning struck their motorized pump boat by a thunderbolt and his best friend sitting on the engine cover just disappeared, believed to have been hit by the thunderbolt as evidenced by the burning marks on the engine cover where he was seated. All efforts and attempts to find the lost body were futile. The accountability for the loss of life was placed before her husband; threatening him for imprisonment. My sister was so worried, but again her husband was spared of the accountability.
She finally decided to have her husband end his fishing career and have him work as a lowly janitor in a government office. Together they struggled to raise and rear their children from their very meagre income. They did not surrender their fight despite all the odds of life, until their children were grown up and have their own families.
At times we see our struggles in life as a vast and dark tempestuous sea and our boat too small to cross. Many tend to withdraw from the voyage or stay afloat, afraid of being drowned by the roaring waves into the depths. To withdraw is never to reach our destination and to stay afloat is to wait until our only boat of hope is submerged into the greatest depths of despair in the oceans of life. My elder sister was an example of one who bravely crossed the turbulent seas of life with faith and courage aboard her small boat, never minding the raging storms and heaving waves until she finally found mooring in a safe jetty with the help of her children.
She finally decided to have her husband end his fishing career and have him work as a lowly janitor in a government office. Together they struggled to raise and rear their children from their very meagre income. They did not surrender their fight despite all the odds of life, until their children were grown up and have their own families.
At times we see our struggles in life as a vast and dark tempestuous sea and our boat too small to cross. Many tend to withdraw from the voyage or stay afloat, afraid of being drowned by the roaring waves into the depths. To withdraw is never to reach our destination and to stay afloat is to wait until our only boat of hope is submerged into the greatest depths of despair in the oceans of life. My elder sister was an example of one who bravely crossed the turbulent seas of life with faith and courage aboard her small boat, never minding the raging storms and heaving waves until she finally found mooring in a safe jetty with the help of her children.
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| With siblings during a reunion |
Yet even then the quivers of life continue to disrupt and annoy. During the last devastating earthquake her family’s haven was totally damaged and eventually demolished. However, in her sufferings from the devastations of nature’s fury God’s love and kindness and mercy through her angel daughter once more found for her a better anchorage. She felt a little more comfortable, until when the last roller coating of paint was finished and she left in peace.
She may not have been a perfect wife, but she remained true to her husband even in her last hour upholding their vows to love and to hold, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, till death do they part. She may not have been a perfect mother, yet she was able to create and design a strong foundation that holds her family’s building blocks of love, unity, peace and harmony together. Throughout her challenging years and adverse circumstances she had been apt at drinking the bitter cup of her personal Gethsemane; carrying her cross towards her personal Calvary’s hill and Golgotha even to her final peaceful rest.
To us her siblings, her husband, her sons and daughters, her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, she exemplified that whatever storms we encounter in our journey in the immense oceans of life there can always be a brightness of hope and God’s assurance that our small boat of faith and courage will survive the voyage and find a safe harbour in the blissful shore.
We will miss her, yet we are grateful that she had finally found peace with God in her last hours as she paid her last communion with Him. She is now in reunion with our parents and ancestors and her son who had gone before. There are certain ordinances that are yet to be done, but I am confident, she will eventually have the promise of “a state of happiness, a state of rest, a state of peace, where [she] shall rest from all [her] troubles and from all care and sorrow.” We love you mana Sening. We love you!
She may not have been a perfect wife, but she remained true to her husband even in her last hour upholding their vows to love and to hold, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, till death do they part. She may not have been a perfect mother, yet she was able to create and design a strong foundation that holds her family’s building blocks of love, unity, peace and harmony together. Throughout her challenging years and adverse circumstances she had been apt at drinking the bitter cup of her personal Gethsemane; carrying her cross towards her personal Calvary’s hill and Golgotha even to her final peaceful rest.
To us her siblings, her husband, her sons and daughters, her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, she exemplified that whatever storms we encounter in our journey in the immense oceans of life there can always be a brightness of hope and God’s assurance that our small boat of faith and courage will survive the voyage and find a safe harbour in the blissful shore.
We will miss her, yet we are grateful that she had finally found peace with God in her last hours as she paid her last communion with Him. She is now in reunion with our parents and ancestors and her son who had gone before. There are certain ordinances that are yet to be done, but I am confident, she will eventually have the promise of “a state of happiness, a state of rest, a state of peace, where [she] shall rest from all [her] troubles and from all care and sorrow.” We love you mana Sening. We love you!
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