Eulogy delivered by Pet Bautista during the funeral mass for Cherie Bautista Galvez, 15 July 2013, held at the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church, Pasadena: My name is Pet Bautista, and I am the older brother of Cherie Galvez. We are 12 in the family, 7 boys and 5 girls. I am child number 2 while Cherie is child number 3. My father had a secret formula and he could predict the gender of his children even before they were born. Thus the sequence of the 12 kids was: Girl, boy, girl, boy, girl, boy (and as my mother loves to say, CHANGE COURT) boy, girl, boy, girl, boy then boy. When asked why the last was a boy, he smiled and said he didn't have enough practice! Of course with 12 children my father had to have an easy system to raise us well and it was simple - raise the first child right and the others will follow her lead. He didn't have a problem with disciplining us, as he simply delegated it - his rule was the older child disciplined the succeeding child and so on. But as you know life isn't fair - our oldest, Tish, who is here with us, part of the First Quartile, had lots of problems with me; but I had absolutely no problems with Cherie. Cherie didn't need much disciplining as she was super good, super nice and also super smart. That means she simply run rings around me! You've read Cherie's Obituary which lists her incredible accomplishments; valedictorian in grade school and high school, summa cum laude in college. Not only that but Cherie was a star of the table tennis varsity team of her university. She played the guitar; a gift clearly inherited by Jiffy, her youngest. Many years ago our family was recognized by the Philippine Catholic Women's League as the family of the year because apart from being a 'model' catholic family, among the 12 children were summa cum laudes, magna cum laudes and cum laudes. When asked by an interviewer who had to write an article why this was so and if he had a secret recipe for raising such a bright family - my father's answer was simple - all a man needed to do was marry a summa cum laude. Yes, my mom is also a summa cum laude. Tish, child number 1 is a summa cum laude; Cherie is a summa cum laude. My problem about being sandwiched by two summa cum laudes, is that they sucked the brains out of me. You can ask my 6 other brothers how that feels! Cherie was the maid of honor when I got married; she was the first person in my family that my girlfriend and future wife Winda I introduced to; and after she said 'she's okay Kuya Pet,' I knew it was going to be easy introducing her to my parents. I married at 22; Cherie was 23 when she married the love of her life, Jun. I didn't even know they were already a couple when I learned that they were getting married. After marriage they left the Philippines for Indonesia, Singapore and eventually for good, so my younger siblings, especially in the third and fourth quartile, never really got to know Cherie. But Cherie got to know them as she was always the gracious host who welcomed us and the many visitors into their home in Singapore. My dad was good at incentivizing his kids - graduate with honors and I will send you to Singapore to visit Cherie! Of course the third and fourth quartile siblings got to visit Cherie. I was then working in Indonesia and Singapore being just less than 2 hours away , we would visit Cherie, Jun, Davy and Jiffy almost 4 times a year. Thus I saw how Davy and Jiffy transitioned from speaking English with a Singaporean accent to their current English with an American accent. Their Pasadena home also became our way station, the original Quality Inn, where she acted as a mother to her siblings, nephews and nieces who would stay with them while visiting the sights of Southern California. Visitors were never unwelcome as Jun and Cherie were generous hosts. My own youngest daughter, Charley, who worked in Sta Monica for 6 months as part of her masteral course stayed with the Galvezes on weekends, and she considers Cherie her second mom. When plans were afoot for a family reunion among the 12 siblings in Lake Arrowhead to be with an ailing sister, Charley came to show her love for her second mom. Among one of Cherie's many skills is cross-stitching and hanging on her bedroom wall is a framed cross-stitched quotation which reads: God couldn't be everywhere so he created mothers. That says it all: Cherie was a mother, not only to her family but motherly to all who stayed under her roof. Who would have thought that Cherie would be the first among us 12 brothers and sisters to go? 10 years ago our oldest, Tish, contracted cancer, fought it and won. 4 years ago I suffered a stroke, was in intensive care for days and survived. Then 15 months ago Cherie was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, and she fought it so she could see her grandson Alex. The generous Lord gave her 8 more months to enjoy Alex. Of course now she is watching over Alex in heaven, and enjoying him from above. In Lake Arrowhead two months ago and watching over Cherie this last week, many of us have been assailed by memories, all good. Most were in a mode of gratitude; gratitude for what Cherie has given us and others, gratitude to God for having given us a gift in the person of Cherie, a truly beautiful person. There is no regret in me that she will not experience the joys of old age because, as when a brother who was crying said good bye to her in Arrowhead, Cherie said, don't cry for me - I have lived a full life. I think she meant that she has had a long experience of life, not only of her own life, but others' too. She has seen all of us, her siblings do well in life and in the few times she would write personal emails (she disliked group emails), she congratulated us for a recent promotion or a job well done. Until three days ago, my mother had 12 children; now she still has 11. Our mother in the Philippines, turning 90 in November this year, couldn't come as she had the flu a few days before departure and she took that as a sign not to go. When the end came for Cherie we had 4 brothers break the news to her personally before her daily mass and you know what her reply was? Cherie's pain is over, and that is what I have been praying for. Our parents taught us lots of things but one thing they didn't teach was how to cope with the death of a sibling. But we are comforted by the words of Cicero who said that the life of the dead is placed in the memories of the living. The love we feel in life keeps people alive beyond their time. Cherie, who has given love, will always live on in our hearts because those we hold in our hearts we never say good bye to. Cherie, dear sister, God is kind and merciful and has now embraced you in His arms. We love you. Thank you.