Has Caridad Pineda found the elusive fountain of youth? Why is it that she is still hale and hearty and functions like a woman much younger than her age? Why is her complexion rosy, unblemished and smooth, like a child’s? Why does she still have poise and good posture? Why is her voice sweet and her laughter vibrant? Most of all, why are her mind and memory intact? And yes, her hearing is unimpaired and she has near-perfect vision, although she used to wear eyeglasses.
Of course, the fountain of youth is a myth. Her secret must lie elsewhere. Is it because she has spent her time well, practices what she preaches, and offers up all for the glory of God? Or is it because of self-discipline?
Tita Caring’s diet and good habits must also have something to do with it. She keeps herself fit on fish, chicken, vegetables, fruits, and milk, avoiding fatty foods as she was advised by an internist when she was 68. She neither drinks nor smokes. She still gets around, albeit in a wheelchair, doing what she can to help people.
Caring suffered a fall and sustained a left hip fracture more than two years ago. She underwent hip pinning on May 31, 2003 and total hip replacement on September 24, 2003. She also had a mild stroke on September 1, 2003 from which she has recovered.
Tita Caring finished grade school as a valedictorian in Pinamalayan, Mindoro. She graduated from high school at St. Scholastica’s College and took up BS Zoology at the University of the Philippines. She completed all the requirements for an MA in Zoology but did not defend her thesis. She taught Zoology for nine years at UP.
In 1927, she reluctantly consented to be crowned Miss Mindoro at the beauty pageant held at the Philippine Carnival in Manila through the insistence of Gov. Ignacio of Mindoro and her father.
In 1933, Tita Caring gave up teaching to marry Jesus Tereso Pineda. They settled in Concepcion, Tarlac where he had a large piece of land which he planted to rice, sugar cane, and mangoes.
Tita Caring has always been involved in pious and charitable work. As wife to a lawyer-turned-gentleman farmer in Concepcion, Tarlac, she convinced her husband to get Pampango priests to give their tenants retreats and she herself taught them how to confess. She and her husband Jesus helped build a chapel for the barrio. For 13 years, Tita Caring was the president of the puericulture center in Concepcion. With the help of the late Congressman Jose Feliciano of the third district of Tarlac, she was able to put up a building for the center.
There were 220 families in the barrio. In February and October of each year, Tita Caring would sponsor a contest for the cleanest and most orderly house and yard. The prizes consisted of home furnishings and kitchenware. Soon, the barrio was transformed into a showcase of clean and neat homes and yards.
After the death of her husband, Tita Caring joined the Third Order of St. Dominic. After a training period of four-and-a-half years, she made her perpetual profession in 1977. As a Dominican tertiary, she regularly visited Mother Teresa’s hospital in Tondo and the Bahay na Walang Hagdan, helping take care of the sick and teaching the wards catechism.
In 1988, she was elected prioress of the Sto. Domingo Chapter (Quezon City) and served as such till 1991. She has sent many kids to school. She let two sons of a cancer patient, Pedro and Moises Ocampo, live in her house and enrolled them in school. When they dropped out, she taught them reading, writing and arithmetic herself. She financed the schooling of four of eight children of a former boy helper, Domingo Torres. Every Saturday, she taught them catechism. One is now a seaman, another an accountant, another a radio mechanic, and another a commerce graduate.
Tita Caring follows a daily regimen to avoid wasting her time. Upon waking up, she says her morning prayers, takes her breakfast, and reads her Breviary (a duty as member of the Third Order of St. Dominic). After this, she works on her family papers which she keeps in good order. To help her memory, she keeps a record of what she does every day. Once in a while, she writes letters to her daughter in Australia, her grandchildren, and friends. She reads the newspapers and watches TV till lunch. Tita Caring undergoes physical therapy once a week for her hip fracture and exercises with her walker two to three times a day. She has spiritual reading and siesta in the afternoon, and then reads her Breviary and takes her merienda. She recites the rosary with her helpers every night.
Tita Caring has 24 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren. All look up to her and are very proud of her. What more can a woman ask for?
You can say that what keeps her going at 100 is her deep spirituality, coupled with generosity and dedication to the service of God and her fellowmen.