First Post - Donato Joaquin

Dony aka Junior

Manong Rudy and I were born during tumultuous times in Europe, a time when the Fascists were taking over Germany and Italy. Over a quarter century later, I was preparing for a trip abroad and I needed a birth Certificate to secure my first passport. Mama spent hours waiting at the Manila Post Office but they could not locate a certificate for Donato, Jr.

Giving vent to her suspicions, she asked the clerk to check if there was a Mussolini Joaquin born on October 5, 1938. Sure enough there was and not only that there was an Adolf Hitler Joaquin born the year before. Papa wanted those names for us, perhaps enamored by the rise to power ofthose strong men but Mama had vehemently objected. Doing the next best thing that he could, Papa covertly registered us under those names and never told a soul. When his secret was revealed he must have convulsed with laughter as he lay in his grave. It also dawned on me why he was calling Nicky, Tojo and Doel, Truman.

A short notarized document legalized my name and off I went to Japan and Taipei the first of numerous trips that in a span of 20 years my company, the Caterpillar distributor for the Philippines, asked me to take. To attend meetings, speak at meetings, visit factories, travel with
customers and all sorts of reasons (and excuses) including representing the company in a golf tournament in Hong Kong.

It was during those years I met for the first time my bride, Nina, despite the fact that I had known her brothers and her mom many years before then. And this was long after A. Lois and A Nora had for years boarded with Nina’s family in Malate, Manila.

Dony (43), Nina (36), Rally (11), Sandy (8), Nadine (6)

Shortly before moving to California

Nina and I were married at the U.P. Chapel after a whirlwind courtship that lasted barely a year and was highlighted by a few breakups. And make ups. We quickly had four children but our first born died at infancy. So now we have Jose Dante called Rally, born during the First Quarter Storm of 1970 at the start of Marcos’ evil regime, Jose Alejandro also called Sandy and Anna Dina nicknamed Nadine. Sandy and Anna are names dear to us because these were the nom de guerre that Nina had used during her activist days. No need to stretch to deduce how Rally got his name.


It was always my desire to become an engineer like U. Ando and I felt proud to be the second in the family to be a tech guy when I completed my Mechanical Engineering course. Nina and I are both from the University of the Philippines which is the alma mater of the four eldest Florendos, Lina, Lydia, Elisa and Fred. None of my children had the chance to go to the UP, nevertheless our boys are now techies too. Rally is an Aerospace Engineer (Cal State Pomona) and Sandy an Environmental Engineer (UC Berkeley, MS UM Amherst). These disciplines are new and did not even exist during my time.

Nina I had dearly wanted to have a doctor in the family like the Rabors and the Fred Florendos, so Nadine is obliging us, and in about a year she will complete her PhD in Linguistics (UCLA). We should have done a better job at explaining to her better what we really wanted. At least we
know she is happy and successful at what she is doing. What I am dead certain is that I have clearly explained to our kids that it is a blessing to have grandchildren, and it is their duty to keep the family name in a continuum. But what does this old man really know. In time one of them may settle down and yield an offspring..perhaps before the Olympics go back to China.

Nina, my bride

It won’t be long now before I hang up my gloves. In the meantime I try to keep sharp and engaged pursuing my work at Terra Firma Mortgage, our real estate loan company. But I know I will persist on being physically active for as long as I can as would be expected from the life long runner that I consider my self to be.

Of the many marathons races that I have ran, two of the most memorable ones are the historic Boston Marathon, the acclaimed Mecca for all true-blue runners and the Berlin Marathon. I have run marathons with Rally and some other shorter races with Sandy but the only time both boys ever ran with me was in Berlin. It was special for me that without any prodding the boys had taken up the sport that I have learned to love. Someone asked if it was not a bigger deal that the boys became techies like me. I reflected a bit but said no it wasn’t simply because the boys were by nature techies all along.

The prognosis for another marathon run are now dimming for me considering the manifest chronological clock we are all bound by and the unexpected heart by-pass procedure that I underwent last year. But it could still be possible if ever I can find a race route that is flat. It is strange but the ones I have ran seemed to be all uphill.

With the children on their own Nina and I are now mostly by ourselves, it is not so stressful anymore. We try to travel a little bit and of late Nina had arranged a Mediterrenean cruise for my birthday with the kids and other friends in October. How could it be so? It is almost incongruous that I am not even used to being sixty, yet in a few short weeks I will be a bent septuagenarian.

Rally (38), Nadine (32) and Sandy (35)
Perhaps before the next Olympics in China

Next year I would like to spend a little more time at Casa Joaquin B&B especially during the cooler months early in the year. Perhaps it was really meant for me to live the life of a hard working inn keeper.