In nature, the most dangerous and deadly creatures are the mothers. There is nothing a mother bear would not do to protect her cubs. In Josephine Tuazon’s life, she had to fight tooth and nail for her two boys, now ages 10 and 11.

It all began in 1985 when twenty-one-year-old Josephine migrated to the United States from her hometown in Pangasinan, Philippines. She worked various jobs in convalescent hospitals, electrical plants and bottling companies. She was married for eight years, but when her husband strayed from their marriage, she pursued a divorce. Her husband took her two children with him to live with his girlfriend and her five children. Losing her children like that nearly drove Josephine insane. Aside from the hurt of losing her husband to a woman Josephine had helped and been kind to, she was more deeply hurt by the loss of her children. When it came time to visit her two boys, she was even more broken-hearted to find that they weren’t being taken care of. The neglect her children suffered in her ex-husband’s care could be considered abuse. She immediately went to the courts and fought to get her children back. The justice system granted Josephine custody of her children and a restraining order on her ex-husband and his girlfriend, who insisted on bringing chaos to their lives.

At present, Josephine is happy she is re-united with her children, and is content to focus her energy on raising them by herself. She doesn’t seem interested at this time in meeting people or dating. Her traumatic experience with her marriage is enough to make her cautious.

In 1996, a phone call made by Physical Plant Manager Dorie Manuntag to Josephine’s mother became a fateful chance for Josephine. Ms. Manuntag was looking to hire Josephine’s mother to work in the laundry, but as fate would have it, her mother wasn’t home, so Josephine volunteered to fill the job herself. From then on, ECH-Alameda’s laundry department was blessed to have Josephine. She works hard and is pleasant to the residents, families and her co-workers. Out of all her previous workplaces, she credits ECH-Alameda as the best she’s ever been in because it is close to her home, and because she has made many friends.

We are proud to have Josephine Tuazon as part of the ECH-Alameda family. We admire her courage and strength during her life’s adversity, and wish her good fortune throughout the rest of her life.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 5th, 2000 at 8:13 pm. You can trackback from your own site.