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.