Dr. Dawn Bohulano Mabalon August 17, 1972 - August 10, 2018
Dawn Bohulano Mabalon, 45, died suddenly on August 10, 2018 in Hawai’i, on a family vacation she’d dreamed about and organized.
She is survived by her beloved husband of nearly 10 years, Jesus Perez Gonzales; her sister Darleen Mabalon; nieces and godchildren Tayondee and Nonaiya, and nephew Cayden; her mom Christine Bohulano Bloch; her uncle Delfin Bohulano, Jr. (Wendy); aunts Virginia Bohulano, Adeline Bohulano Suguitan (Mel), and her uncle Tex Mabalon, Sr. - together with her large family of cousins, nieces, godchildren, godparents. Preceding her in death are her grandparents Delfin Paderes Bohulano and Concepcion Paloma Moreno Bohulano; her aunt Florencia Mabalon Pastrana, her father Ernesto Tirona Mabalon, and grandparents Pablo Macavinta Mabalon and Isabel Timtiman Tirona Mabalon. Of the Mabalon family, “five generations deep,” Dawn writes: “We are all the seeds they planted in America, now almost 100 of us, flourishing because of their (ancestors’) sacrifices.”
Dawn cherished family and the community they continue to build in Stockton, California. She’d forever identify with the Filipino community of the historic “Little Manila” in Stockton’s Southside. Growing up in a tightly knit neighborhood of people of color with aunts and uncles everywhere, “Everyone watched out for you,” Dawn says. From winning Stockton’s spelling bee as a youth to winning national competition that led her to New York as guest editor of teen magazine Sassy soon after graduating from Edison High School, Dawn excelled. She published numerous articles in nationally distributed newspapers and magazines - all before age 20.
From San Joaquin Delta College, Dawn went on to earn a Master’s degree from UCLA - where her fierce Stockton Southside stance and gaze (Watch out!) shaped rhythms of Dawn’s powerful spoken word poetry as well as her lifelong passion and activism for justice. At UCLA, she began her rigorous scholarship that addressed gender, community displacement, youth organizing and more.
Yet Dawn didn’t just write about community displacement, she fought for the historic preservation of her beloved Little Manila. She says, “In 1997…that's when the demolition started. And that’s when we started the Little Manila Foundation [now Little Manila Rising] and I was essentially going to seminars at Stanford and then rushing back home on the freeway filming the demolition…it ended up being a non-profit that is... amazing for what it’s been able to do
for our youth. And now we've been able to save the three original
buildings, and it’s been incredible.”
Dawn became one of the first Pinays to earn a doctorate degree - a PhD in history - from Stanford University. Her dissertation eventually became the award winning book, “Little Manila is in the Heart: The making of the Filipina/o American community in Stockton, California,” now in its 6th printing. Of her book, Dawn says, “It really was a love letter to my family, to my community, to my elders and really putting my hometown on the proverbial Filipino American map. I had always believed and many of the elders believed that Stockton was Filipino America's hometown.”
As an Associate Professor in history at San Francisco State University, she also became part of the Pin@y Partnership Program (PEP family). Dawn’s love for teaching/learning - sustained by love for/by family/community/history/
When Dawn graduated from UCLA, Uncle Fred Cordova (Founding President Emeritus of the Filipino American National Historical Society where Dawn served as National Scholar) wrote:
“It is an honor to welcome an Aklanon of the Pamilya ng Cordova to the scholarly ranks of the learned. Your Lolo Ambo would be so proud and all of our departed loved ones…”
Dawn now joins them.
Dawn so loved being Auntie/Ninang to her mga inaanak (godchildren) and nieces and nephews. With her husband Jesse, they’ve been teaching them how to cook their grandparents’ recipes, and to honor history and legacies.
Now they - and all of us - will continue to honor Dawn’s powerful legacy…
…with love,
@ForCommunities,
Ninang /Auntie/Cousin Joan May Timtiman Cordova
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