Obituary of Romulo Esperanzate Boncato

Romulo Esperanzate Boncato was born (24 April 1931) the 3rd of 4 boys – Fransisco (Rancing), Juanito (Ito), Romulo (Romy/Romo), and Hilario (Larry), to Teodora Esperanzate and Evaristo Boncato in  Umingan, Pangasinan, located in the Ilocos Luzon provincial region of the north central Philippines. In  his youth he unfortunately suffered from a broken family and was raised along with his brothers by his  grandparents on his father’s side. Additionally, he lost his older brother Ito (age 12) to illness. During  those years he shined shoes and sold newspapers to help make ends meet. At 5 years old, he was  proud of his endless "G.I. JOE" clients he had for a "Shoe Shine". This was a very big confidence builder that would help shape his future success even at 1 cent per shine. He would later tell his daughter - "Diana, it was so exciting when one of the G.I.JOE's allowed me to touch his military equipment! I felt  special." Then came World War II and the Japanese occupation. During this time he survived with his  family by living in caves and scrapping for survival until the US freed them and ended the war. Romo  then decided to focus on his education to bring himself out of poverty. He graduated high school and  decided to go to the big city of Manila for work and to further his education and achieve a degree in  Accounting/Commerce at Far Eastern University in Manila. Originally, he wanted to pursue Medicine  but he decided to assist his younger brother by bringing him to Manila to live with him and sacrificed  his GI bill to allow Larry to study Veterinary medicine at the University of the Philippines. It was here  that Romy got his accounting job with the government working for the Agriculture Department while  completing his Bachelors Degree. While the two men stayed in Manila, they would spend time  together singing Tagalog and Ilocano duets while Romy played guitar. Meanwhile, the oldest brother  Rancing had managed to land a job with the Bureau of Soil Industry. It was while Rancing was on  assignment in Tarlac province that he chanced upon a performance by the Manebog sisters duet.  Rancing was so taken by their talent and beauty that he intervened on Romy’s behalf to establish a pen pal relationship with younger sister Anita Manebog. Her beauty was renown and she was recognized  as a Beauty Queen of Tarlac. Invariably, Romy and Anita became favorite pen pals. It was not long  after this their love was sealed, and an everlasting bond extending beyond 62 years of Marriage was  the result. Romy’s success was epic. He excelled in his profession and became regional accounting  manager for a significant portion of the Philippines. This allowed him to provide a very comfortable life  for himself, his wife, and their 5 children. His compassion and generosity were also well known, as he  would help many others either financially, or by providing employment, or both in order to bring  others out of poverty. As time went on Romy had a vision in a dream that he was destined to  immigrate to the US in pursuit of a better future for his family. Against the advice of his bosses,  friends, and other relatives, Romo and Annie moved to the USA in the 1970s under a program  recognizing Romo’s accounting prowess. Together they achieved the American Dream and purchased a  home in Los Angeles. Annie gained her BA in Education from the University of Manila and then a BS  from Pepperdine University, teaching privately and at LAUSD where she influenced the lives of so many  children for many years. Romy attended CSULA and took classes to further enhance his skills. He  worked several positions in both public and private sectors before retiring. He focused on his hobbies  of reading, cooking, gardening, fishing, gambling, military history, firearms, music and family  gatherings. His traditional cooking was legendary and frequently friends and colleagues would flock to  the Boncato homestead for all gatherings and celebrations. Romy lived a full and colorful life. He  dearly loved his wife Anita, even more so after losing her six years ago. Not a day went by where he  would not talk of his love for Annie. In his latest years, he was diagnosed with the illness that  eventually took him from us. His generosity never ceased, even up to his last days he would continue  to send support to relatives in need on the other side of the world. His legacy, aside from influence to  all he helped throughout his life - - he is survived by 1 brother – Larry, 2 sisters-in-law – Naning and  Aida, 5 children (2 sons & 3 daughters), 3 nieces, 3 nephews, 8 grandchildren, 6 great grandchildren,  and many many half-brothers & sisters, cousins along with countless nieces & nephews & more distant  relatives worldwide. His Lasting Legacy to us all is the ability to courageously strive to be the best, to  value knowledge, to be resilient overcoming the odds, and to love life and family to its fullest.