Sunday, February 27, 2022
For Rachele with love from Auntie JoanMay (read by Uncle Tony at vigil 02.08.22)
Rachele used to say, “I’m Auntie JoanMay’s favorite.” Yes, from the time she was a baby, Rachele - the third of four beloved daughters of cousins Raquel Cordova Pasco and Ernie Pasco -- was truly my favorite niece. ((We knew Rachele’s Ate’ Josie had privileges as the eldest; Tina was our Lola Ani’s favorite, and Erleen had much attention as the youngest. So Rachele became “Auntie JoanMay’s favorite” and knew it.)) I took so many baby photos of Rachele and created a special photo album I gave to her as an adult.
Since young Rachele’s so cute, charming, and chubby, elders often affectionately called her “tabatchoy” or “butiti.” Everyone knew Rachele loved food, always eating much even as a baby toddler. She discovered that my mommy, her Auntie Nena, carried extra candy in her purse just for her. Little Butiti Rachele had also been known to finish food packed in her lunchbox even before arriving at school. As an adult, Rachele’s love for food grew into a refined taste for fine wines and delicacies that she generously shared with loved ones – inviting us to her home or wineries or taking treats to sisters, cousins, friends over the years -- where we’d all toast during fun celebrations of just being together. On her 50th birthday – after first eating at a SF cultural arts fair, then supporting a fundraiser for indigenous peoples, and later toasting boba over birthday cake --Rachele invited me to a leather bar where she was quite a popular leader of the leather and LGBTQ community.
Long ago we knew that Rachele had special spiritual gifts; her spiritual energies were even stronger than others in the family from Aklan, a land of spirits. She brought spiritual energies to all her nursing and healing practices. With deep respect for indigenous peoples, she valued and learned from their ancestral knowledge both in person and by reading, making a special request that books from my library about the babaylan –be hand delivered by cousins Annchella and Tony when they flew from the East Coast to San Francisco. Always finding spiritual connections in nature, she also became a core member of “Balik sa Dagat” a Bay Area community of close friends who built a bangka, hand carved from a single log - journeying through ancestral seafaring roots, rhythms, movement; respectfully connecting more deeply to land, water, breath, life. Rachele said: "The making of the canoe, the Gathering of community, The Carving, the eating, the music: it's more than just an event, it's one of the highest frequencies to be surrounded by love and laughter to truly ignite your body, mind, soul to heal."
Yet no matter how much Rachele traveled or accomplished in the world – as a leader, nurse, healer, community cultural worker – she always had time for family, and especially for her son Sebastian as a priority. She once asked me to visit and review one of Sebastian’s private schools and years later, to sit in a meeting with teachers at his new high school. Whenever I posted photos of any of the children in the family, Rachele would ask: “Where’s Seb?” The photo on my blog shows Rachele bringing Easter bunny treats to her grand nieces and nephews.
Rachele passionately worked to pass on her ancestral knowledge to the next generations of family. One day Tita Rachele mapped out and drove four generations of family, including Sebastian plus her mom’s young great-grandchildren, on a road trip through family history: They first joined a Philippine Independence Day cultural celebration organized by an aunt in Tracy; stopped to pay respects at the gravesites of family ancestors who’d been among the first in the clan to settle in California, and enjoyed Filipino food in Stockton before watching the Little Manila Rising (http://littlemanila.org ) showcase at San Joaquin Delta College where Granny (Rachele's mom Raquel Cordova Pasco) had studied as a teenager. Valuing our histories, Rachele had planned to attend this summer’s conference of FANHS, the Filipino American National Historical Society. Early last September 2021, Rachele had a long talk with our now 90 – year old Auntie Dorothy Laigo Cordova, founder of FANHS; Rachele volunteered to actively work on the 2022 FANHS national conference. I still believe that Rachele will be present at this summer's conference, just as I feel her presence during daily ocean swims and in dreams. Yes, Rachele will always be with us. I’m sharing this journey because I hope more in the family and community will continue Rachele’s work as she guides our way now “as a great ancestor.”
Dearest Rachele, you will be missed by families/communities across the globe. And you’ll always be Auntie JoanMay’s favorite. We’ll love you forever.
Sunday, January 23, 2022
Rachele Sullivan, nee Rachele Cordova Pasco, December 17, 1967 – January 17, 2022: "I will be a most excellent Ancestor. When my Creator Calls me home. I love you all so very much. Hugs, Rachele" via IG @sullivanrachele +UPDATE: In a 1st, San Francisco park to bear name of leather leader
**Just copy/paste this link into your browser: https://www.ebar.com/story.php?ch=News&sc=News&id=334425&title=in_a_1st,_san_francisco_park_to_bear_name_of_leather_leader&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0VgNBsnSaEFlqCmNYbZV-hgss1UfsHnvmIZl_drY7fZZmrcdmhhgnllVM_aem_JYq05y8eDO4RNPETPELyxg
Beloved by so many, Rachele Sullivan (nee Rachele Cordova Pasco) drew her last
breath in the full moon’s light close beside family on 17 January 2022 in
Pittsburg, California (USA). *****We now send much love to Rachele’s only son,
Sebastian Sullivan; her mother, Raquel Cordova Pasco (m. Ernesto Abatayo Pasco,
RIP); her sisters Josiebel Pasco Vargas (m. Jay Vargas, SF), Ernestine Pasco
Sanchez (m. Dario Sanchez, Pittsburg), and Erleen Pasco Rosendo (m. Felipe
Rosendo, Jr., San Jose); and to all the many nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts and
uncles in five generations of extended families who’ve traditionally gathered –
in celebration as well as sadness – for decades. Many traveled to be with her
before she transitioned. Now Rachele joins honored ancestors – her beloved
father, Ernesto Abatayo Pasco and his parents, Josefa Abatayo Pasco and
Florentino Pasco, as well as her maternal grandparents Felimon Maypa Cordova and
Hombelina Ibabao Cordova. In this season of Philippine festivals in the family’s
ancestral province, Aklan’s Ati-Atihan drumbeats pulse with spirits welcoming
all home. ***** Rachel would speak of her birthplace as Yelamu (San Francisco)
on Ramaytush Ohlone lands. Through the hard work and sacrifices of nurturing
immigrant parents Raquel and Ernie, all Pasco sisters attended Star of the Sea
Elementary School and graduated from Presentation High School. From childhood
on, the Pasco sisters valued lifelong family friendships of the Filipino
American Association of Star of the Sea Church (FAASTAR), an organization
co-founded by their parents and other Filipino immigrant families in the 1970’s.
While quite young, the Pasco sisters and friends organized and led FAASTAR’s
first youth group. Family elders also invited the children to activities of
other pioneering Filipino organizations in San Francisco and beyond. Deeply
grounded in family/community, Rachele’s commitments to community service, forged
since childhood, would spiral out to include advocacy and grass roots organizing
in increasingly diverse communities. *****
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