in memoriam

(steven selling Pope souvenir shirts circa 1981)

on the evening of january 8, 2009, steven be, a high school classmate, was admitted to the hospital complaining of stomach pain. on sunday, january 11, 2009, at 255pm, he passed away. it came as a shock for all us because he was healthy and young. even when he was already in the hospital, he was just texting and otherwise seemed okay. he did not even want other people to know that he was admitted to the hospital.

what were my memories of him? in 1981, the Pope visited Bacolod, we were tasked to sell souvenir t-shirts for the event. bacolod was too big and too crowded for us so we decided to go to cadiz city where steven hailed. i can't remember if we were successful in selling all those shirts but all i remember was the fun we had in selling them. we were just 14 year old-kids approaching strangers and selling those shirts.

steven will always be remembered. before he passed away, he donated one house to the gawad kalinga project of st. john's institute (hua ming), our alumni.