Account of the events of 15 July 2013 emailed by Tish Bautista to family: The hoodies in California woke up early to finish our packing (Pet, Gigi and I had a 10:30 flight to Manila that night, Aggie and Manny had a 9:30 flight to DC) and to deposit our bags at Gina and Mike's room. A good thing they were staying the night because we couldn't arrange for a late check-out. After breakfast, we put on our second set of black formal clothes. We went to Assumption Church at 9:30 to check on the arrangements for the 9:45 final viewing and the 10 am funeral Mass. In the US, there is no viewing during or after the Mass, not when the casket is already at the altar. Aggie arranged for the viewing with Fr. Gerry and he allowed it only for 15 minutes and at the vestibule of the Church, before the casket had been brought to the altar space. Once again, Cabot did not disappoint us. From the street, we could see the hearse, the casket and the floral sprays at the doorway, and Mr. Cabot and his assistant standing by. When we entered the driveway to the parking lot, a uniformed guard stuck on a "Funeral" sticker to the front windshield and the back of our car. We looked at Puput once again, and it seemed Cabot had freshened up her make-up. She looked even lovelier with a fresh touch of light pink lipstick and Gina said that her hair had been made softer. The sisters and brother lined up to kiss her -- it was like kissing marble -- and this was when some of us lost it, we broke down again. Then Jun and family came and we gave them time with her. The singers, Ralph and Vicki arrived, and we greeted Ralph in his barong Tagalog. Then we heard the bad news that he had lost his voice and couldn't sing. A good thing Vicki is actually the better singer between them -- she has a pure, crystal-clear voice. People from Caltech started arriving -- just six of them -- and they were in tears. They had opened their work e-mail that morning and had learned the sad news only then. Puput's boss, Barry Simon, had sent an e-mail to his colleagues and postdocs and told them of Puput's passing. He ended the e-mail with this line: "From Barry, with tears in his eyes, from Jerusalem." People started coming and the big Church was looking less empty. The Syquias were there and I hope one of my sisters can mention them by name, and the Galvezes too. And of course, the Assumption morning Mass goers were in full force. Plus USTHS batchmates and assorted friends. Fr. Gerry, the Assumption Church pastor, briefed the lectors about proper decorum and proper reading and he made sure everybody knew what they were supposed to do. During the vestibule viewing, Vicki and to some extent Ralph, sang Pauwi Na and Hindi Kita Malilimutan. Sooo beautiful and again some of us started crying. If you have the Missalette, you know the program: First the greeting and sprinkling with holy water by Fr. Gerry. Then the casket was closed, followed by the placing of the pall. The pallbearers brought the casket to the altar in an entrance procession. And the Mass started with the Entrance Song You Are Mine. The First Reading (from Ecclesiastes) was done by Jiffy and he had practiced it very well and it was flawless. The Responsorial Psalm was sung, led by Vicki. Then the Second Reading (from the First Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians) was read by Michelle Galvez (no, not Davy;s wife, but the daughter of Noli and Grace -- Noli is Jun's brother, his best friend). The Gospel was John 12, about the wheat grain falling to the ground and dying. Once again, I hope my siblings can flesh out this portion. Fr. Gerry spoke of how he had first noticed Jun and Puput at the back of the Church coming for daily Mass. It was only later that he found out about her cancer. He then started praying for Rosario with the congregation and he spoke of her bravery and her faith. She was a gentle soul, he said, as was her husband Jun. He had blessed Rosario at her deathbed -- he had been at the house about an hour before she expired. He had seen how much she had suffered at the end, and he was happy that she was now at peace. He hoped to be able to see Jun and Dan and Jose in the future in their bereavement. He talked about how Mommy had come to Assumption the previous month and how the flu had prevented her from being with Rosario during her final days. He was praying especially for Mommy in the Philippines. The General Intercessions followed -- the Prayers of the Faithful -- and Gina read her part so well and so clearly that the intercessions were so full of meaning. For many of us, the most important intercession was the one for Jun and children -- "that they draw strength and comfort from their love for each other and from their happy memories of the love she gave them. May they truly be all right, as they had assured her. We pray to the Lord." The other parts of the Mass followed and then it was time for Pet's eulogy. Again this has been uploaded by Gigi to YouTube and you should see it. Pet told us afterwards that he was so afraid of breaking down during the reading of the eulogy that he resorted to two "tricks" -- first, in his cell phone, he replaced his usual screen saver of the Tropang Bautista family picture at Arrowhead with Paulina's smiling face. Then he placed the small status of Ina, Our Lady of Penafrancia, in his pants pocket and told her, "Bahala na kayo sa akin." He didn't break down and he had a smile as he recounted not-so-serious stories of the birth order of the children, being sandwiched between summa cum laudes, rearing the first child right. He spoke of Puput's and Jun's hospitality to the endless Bautista visitors; he spoke of how she had assured Bingo not to weep for her -- she had lived a full life. The only part when he almost lost it was when he said one lesson our parents had not taught us was how to cope with the death of a sibling but that God is kind and merciful and we will manage. Davy then gave the response on behalf of the family. He spoke of how it was only after she had been diagnosed with cancer that he was able to say "I love you" to his mother; now he had learned to say "I love you" to Michelle and Alex every day. But he said that what he had learned is that it's more important to show that love in action, not just in words. He spoke of how his mother had allowed him and Jose to pursue whatever career they wanted. So he had been a chef, a restaurant manager, a journalist and Jose was a rock star -- whatever made them happy. The Funeral Mass -- like the Vigil service -- left us feeling light and not burdened with grief. We felt even more comforted when we saw the funeral procession. It was long! The guards provided by Cabot in the funeral package did their job well. Imagine, guiding so many cars in the cortege to navigate LA's expressways. But the two guards managed it well and we were never bothered by any delays. It was only when we got to Forest Lawn that we had to stop for a while to allow the cars at the rear not to back up into the main street -- this was done by making the last cars in the cortege enter Forest Lawn and to go up front and then to make a U-turn once the cortege was moving and then they went back to the end of the line. Forest Lawn is huge -- am I right in thinking that I heard it said that Michael Jackson is buried there? -- it is on rolling hills and is quite green. Puput's grave is on the top of a small hill and that is where the other Galvezes will be buried too. Deacon Manuel was there again and he said that his duty at the burial was to commend Puput to the Lord. He made us remember the main points from his homily the day before -- that the remains remain here but the soul is eternal and the love in the soul never ends. The pallbearers then brought the casket to the grave site and, with modern equipment, the casket was lowered into the earth quite speedily -- certainly more than six feet down because the vault will hold two people, one on top of the other. All of us tossed flowers onto the lowered casket and then we were done. We left Forest Lawn and proceeded to the Vegas Seafood Buffet in downtown Glendale, about 15 minutes away. Aggie had told us that Puput specifically wanted the reception to be good, to make people happy. That it did! The place offered so much food, and very good food too. The choices were amazing -- sushi, sashimi, mussels, clams, shrimps cooked various ways, salads, steaks, cutlets, four kinds of soup, tempura, Korean barbecue, etc. -- they had everything one could desire. No wonder the place was packed even at 1:30 in the afternoon, when we arrived. And there wasn't chaos -- everything was orderly. There was time to talk and enjoy what one was eating. And all for $12.99 plus drinks! But if you pay in cash, the drinks are free. And Evelyn and Aggie made sure they paid in cash. To think that Evelyn and Monet (her husband) were initially apologetic that that was all they could find in the area. Yun pala, super sarap and super mura. I'm sure Vegas Seafood Buffet gained a lot of patrons that day. If I'm ever in the LA area again, I'll certainly pay it a visit. And so this account ends. We have commended Puput to Our Lord and she is happy now. We are happy that her suffering has ended, but we miss her so much. There will still be a lot of crying -- how can there not be? -- but we will be all right. We have each other.