There goes Sir Nonnie, after his OAO, Maam Jo

Sir Nonnie ( Servillano C. Mapeso ) was not my father. But he was like one to me. That is eventually how you come to regard one in whose apartment complex you have lived for half of your own life. I started renting a unit there right after I got married. All my children were born there. One died there. In all of my life's ups and downs, we were part of that one big family at 157 Duterte in Banawa, Cebu City.

It is the address where Sir Nonnie raised his own biological family of eight --- five sons and three daughters ---  with Maam Jo ( Josephine Viloria ), his one and only love. The OAO in the title of this article means just that. One and only. It was a term popular in the Sixties when teenagers dedicate requested songs on radio. The announcer (not yet called DJs then) would read notes like "Nonnie dedicates this song to his OAO Jo ...."

 The love story of Sir Nonnie and Maam Jo began very early in their lives. Sir Nonnie, who is from Dumaguete, was boarding at Maam Jo's house as a young student fresh into college. Maam Jo was in high school in her mid-teens. As Maam Jo would often tell it in parties they often hosted at the apartment complex for tenants, Sir Nonnie virtually snatched her from the cradle.

" He is a cradle snatcher, " she would lovingly say into the microphone. And as she would beckon to him to come over and sing a duet with her, she would never fail to add: "But how can you refuse? How can you say no when he is such a handsome young man? "And Maam Jo could not have been more right in the choice she made. Not only did Sir Nonnie love her with all his heart, he loved her with all his life.

There was nothing in his being that Sir Nonnie did not do for his Jo. He is one of the few one-woman men I have come across in my life. He was man of the house only because Maam Jo was the woman in that house. And so into that house he poured everything --- a good life for his family, a strong Christian foundation to keep them together, and the musical interest to keep everyone warm and happy.

To say that Sir Nonnie and Maam Jo were generous is an understatement. They never shut their doors to anyone in need. They were the first people I know who promptly gave a piece of property to the church (a one-hectare lot in Lutopan, Toledo City) in dedication to St. Pedro Calungsod right after his canonization. A noted architect, Sir Nonnie also donated the church plan and design and eventually provided and raised funds to build it.

As the years advanced, Sir Nonnie, like most people, began to feel their toll on his health. But he kept going because Maam Jo was there. She was his love of a lifetime and so he had to be there for her. I am not a medical expert but I know in my own heart that when Maam Jo suddenly left for her Maker in early 2019, it was going to be a blow from which Sir Nonnie would not be able to recover.

And so when my wife told me the news of Sir Nonnie's passing a couple of nights ago, it was not a deep sadness that immediately swept over me but a kind of strange relief in the realization that Sir Nonnie just had to go after his OAO, Maam Jo, to continue their story in another lifetime. For all the kindness you have shown, to me and many others, thank you Sir Nonnie and Maam Jo. May God reward you justly with His mercy and peace.