My earliest recollections of the Florendo family were when we arrived in Dumaguete late 1948. Our family moved there so Mom and Dad could both practice medicine at Silliman University Mission Hospital. Auntie Lina was very instrumental in getting us to Dumaguete from San Fernando, La Union. I was born on November 11, 1944 to Federico Florendo, Jr (eldest son Tatang,) and Purificacion Tadiar. It was a wonderful childhood spent with the families of Auntie Lina and Uncle Joe Rabor, Uncle Teddy and Auntie Vic Florendo, Uncle Ando and Auntie Nonette, and several other aunties, uncles, and cousins including the children of Tatang’s brother, Lolo Felino.
I left Dumaguete in 1956 to start high school at UP Prep in Manila but returned to Silliman after one year to finish high school graduating in 1960. I again returned to UP to start college but left there after three months to enroll in Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa courtesy of recommendations from the Drs. Tiempo of Silliman (well known Philippine literary figures) who had taught earlier at Wartburg. Starting college at 15 was extremely difficult since I had a huge cultural and educational barrier – the only course that I was more than prepared for was biology which Auntie Lina had taught at Silliman High School. In spite of these obstacles I graduated.
In 1964 I started in the PhD program at the University of Tennessee in Memphis in Anatomy. My research on the substructure of a cellular organelle, the ribosome, gained me an invitation to be a research fellow at Yale University where I worked and published with Paul Greengard. Dr. Greengard was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology in 2000. I subsequently returned to the University of Tennessee in Memphis where I earned my MD degree, graduating first in my class and recipient of the medicine award.
After graduating I decided to stay in Memphis and do my residency in Pathology at the Baptist Memorial Hospital. During my senior year I was one of the pathologists who performed the autopsy on Elvis Presley and was later interviewed on ABC’s 20/20 by Geraldo Rivera. I am still to this day being asked about the autopsy results.
Currently I am a staff pathologist with a group of 20 colleagues. During my 30 years with the group I served 10 years as president and now I am content to read slides and do routine pathology work. My sister, Joy, still practices internal medicine in Ohio. Her daughter, Cristina, also a pathologist, joined our group in 2000 . My brother, Fred, is now retired from cardiovascular surgery and resides in Phoenix. Fred had to retire early because of an untreatable skin allergy to surgical gloves.
My daughter, Katherine, practices neonatology in Kansas City and has three children with husband Chuck who is a perinatologist. Alan, my son, has an MBA and law degree, and practices in Manhattan, New York. My wife, Debbie, and I currently reside in Memphis with our two dogs. My mother divides her time between living in Memphis and Dumaguete where we still have our family residence.
Joy, Fred, and I try to visit Dumaguete every year where we enjoy scuba diving. We also enjoy skiing every winter almost always in the Snow Mass/Aspen area. Earlier in life I was avid biker, swimmer, and runner and participated in triathlons for three seasons, but now I am content to enjoy the “triathlon” of the “young once” – hot tub, steam baths, and massage.
Retirement? Not anytime soon.
Pictures:
Noel with his then 4 year old grand daughter Mary-Olivia.
Group photo taken at Joy’s wedding in June –
Standing is Fred, Noel, Debbie, Bill(Joy’s husband)
Seated is Auntie Puring, Joy, Candy (Fred’s wife)
