The last man standing

May I request for prayers for my Tio Tom, Tomas “Tommy” Braganza who was the last surviving sibling of my mother Narni Braganza Jimenez.

He was 95 years old when he passed away just the other day, a remarkable survivor who outlived even his youngest brother, Dr. Ted Braganza. In fact, he even graced the grand reunion of the Braganza cousins across several degrees of consanguinity, dubbed the “ExtraBraganza” held in Las Vegas just over a month ago. Tio Tom was—more than just the grand chair of “Barangay Tommy”—the honorary father figure in the gathering, which brought together several generations of our extended family which traces its roots to the towns of Mabini and Alaminos in Pangasinan.

Family lore has it that Tommy was the family jokester, a natural rebel who defied his mother’s, my Lola Eming’s, strictures. He regularly broke my Lola’s unshakeable rule that all her nine (reduced to eight when my Tita Purita died in childhood) children should be home by twilight and present for dinner and evening prayers. Ever the disciplinarian, Lola would order the dining table cleared even if Tommy still hadn’t made it home. But somehow, he would manage to cadge a meal after Lola made it to bed.

While Tio Ted, who chose a career in psychoanalysis that he pursued in the States, was conceded by most everyone as Lola’s favorite, Tio Tom was undoubtedly Lola’s pet peeve. “Why can’t you be more like Ted?” she once confronted the second-to-the-youngest child. “He goes with me wherever I go, while you’re like a stray cat, we don’t know where you’re off to most of the time!”

But typically, he was the favorite brother of his three surviving sisters. Because he braved Lola’s command for everyone to boycott her wedding to a doctor she didn’t approve of, my Tita Salud would always hold Tio Tom with fondness. When she won a sweepstakes prize, my Tita Fe chose him from among all her siblings to accompany her on a trip to Hong Kong. And my Mama counted on him to manage her many interests in Alaminos.

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So were we, his nephews and nieces, charmed by him. He was ready with practical pieces of advice, as when he told my husband while we were having our home built, to make sure to raise the foundation above the street to avoid flooding. We had reason to be grateful we heeded his advice in the years that followed, that is, until “Ondoy” brought with it torrential rains and a flood of muddy, murky, stinky water.

Although he joined the merchant marine corps as an adult, he was basically a tinkerer at heart. My aunts remembered him breaking apart his own toys and trying to put them back together. Much later, he thought of joining together two outrigger boats with a platform in between; this he called a “catamaran.” My childhood was filled with memories of excursions to the Hundred Islands while the entire clan partied aboard this unique and unusual-looking vessel.

Also blessed with an entrepreneurial bent, he engaged in various trades in Alaminos, including an ice plant and ice drop factory (where my aunt Fe Gavino famously once mistakenly left her fiesta outfit and shoes in the walk-in freezer), a pharmacy, and even a disco-bar. When he joined his children who had all relocated to the United States, he rented out the building on which the pharmacy stood to the town’s first fastfood outlet, a McDonald’s.

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When Tio Tom lost his first wife while she was in childbirth, leaving him with four young children, he found love anew with my Tita Remy (nee Rivera), with whom he had five children of their own. They were married for more than 50 years.

Typically, Tio Tom went about designing and supervising the construction of their home in Alaminos, which was truly unique, including a small tiled depression in the front yard which he had planned to turn into a mini swimming pool.

But even as he enjoyed his own home with his family a few blocks away, Tio Tom was a constant presence in the family home, the Braganza “Big House” to which all members of the clan flocked whenever they visited Alaminos. My Tita Salud Garcia lived in the Big House, with her daughter Lulu and a small army of attendants. But it was Tio Tom who could be counted on to liven up the proceedings and lead the mah-jong sessions. And always, he was ready with his witticisms and jokes, his eyes squinting to eensy-teensy slits as he laughed at his own quips.

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Even when he immigrated, with Tita Remy, to join his children in the greater Los Angeles area, Tio Tom was the center of many a jovial, joyous gathering of relatives and townmates who had likewise moved to the West Coast.

I remember dropping by their home in Downey after a trip to Mexico and finding the yard crowded with tables filled with old, familiar faces who had frequented our family gatherings while I was growing up. Indeed, they had built a solid network of relatives and friends from Alaminos and even Mabini, a mini-republic of moral support and concern.

Now I’m regretting passing up the chance to see and be with Tio Tom one last time during the “ExtraBraganza” in Las Vegas. From the photos and videos of the event shared on social media, Tio Tom was visibly delighted with and touched by the gathering, his face positively glowing as members of his “Barangay Tommy” wheeled him into the ball room as everyone rose and cheered, acknowledging the presence of our “last man standing.”

So here’s to Tommy Braganza who lived his life and took all the joy and fulfillment he could wring from it. I’m sure all his siblings are rejoicing right now in Heaven, now that their eternal jokester and rebel has joined their company.