Welcome to all of you.

I am Hanzel Estrella and I’ve been offered the

opportunity to speak for a few minutes about my mother, whose life we are
celebrating here today together. I realized as I set about this task, that a son
sees his mother in a different context than those of you who are lifelong
friends or professional colleagues. It is even difficult to speak on behalf of my
siblings since they are no longer here but I will try to represent the shared
feelings of love, devotion and admiration we all felt towards our mother.

My mother would be very pleased and honored to see that you all could
make it here this evening to share in this with us, as it was her family and
friends who were the most important focus of her life. It was also your
continued support, well wishes and prayers which were so valuable to her in
her final weeks.

In addition to your presence here, we have received many, many

expressions of condolence from among the thousands of people my mother
touched over the years. Their and your words match those that echo in my
head with examples of her tireless and determined support of her friends and
family throughout her life., The words that come to mind include:
independence, courage, generosity, sensitivity, integrity, dignity, whimsy, and
indeed the word ‘life’ itself – for few people I have ever known, lived life as
fully or as well as my mother did.

I could talk for hours and provide numerous examples demonstrating

her remarkable independence, including, of course, her desire to work abroad
just to give us a better lives. Her generosity with her time, her energy, her
advice, and in so many other ways provided invaluable support to a
remarkable number of people. Over the years, and over the past few days,
I’ve heard many stories of the friends, relatives, neighbors, clients and even
strangers to whom my mother provided help and support in their times of
need. Such acts of spontaneous generosity were typical of my mother.

Among the other words which come to mind to describe her character,
her uncompromising integrity and honesty have proven to be among the most
important guides for myself in my personal life. Whenever I face a situation
in which I am unsure about which direction to take, I have always had a tool
to guide me in the form of a simple question: – “Would I be willing to tell my
mother what I have done if I choose this path?”

Life forces us all into positions of compromise and presents challenges

to our honesty and our integrity, and I observed my mother rise and meet
those challenges one after the other throughout my life with courage and a
toughness and a sense of right and wrong which was awe inspiring. It was her
values and her commitment to community service that made her a better
woman.

Her sense of dignity was never so tested nor so well demonstrated as in

the final weeks and days of her life. Even with a body riddled with pain she
still was worrying of her grandchildren and not of her hurt self. I struggle to
imagine myself being able to meet death with even 1/10th the dignity that I
observed in my mother over the past weeks and which swelled me with pride
each minute that I spent with her.
 Finally, and perhaps the key to her happiness, was her whimsical
approach to life. She was always in pursuit of another experience, a little more
fun or a new adventure. Her love for Greek mythology, flowers, cross-
stitching, reading, writing and public speaking makes her an empowered and
driven –traits that I would like my children to embody too.

Despite my mother’s strong personality, lived a selfless woman who care

more on others than herself. As a parent and friend, my mother had an
extraordinary ability to make each of us feel stronger and more confident in
our own identity, giving us our own sense of independence and mental
toughness which, speaking for myself, has been such an asset in so many
ways in my life. She will live in our memories and our hearts forever and I am
will always be extremely proud to call myself the son of Cynthia Estrella. Ma,
say my Hi to papa and kuya there in heaven.