Please help us celebrate her life and make her journey to heaven joyous, proper, and peaceful. If you want to condole and give "abuloy", a Filipino tradition of giving monetary assistance to families who have lost their loved ones, please send it through the following electronic payment websites PLEASE DO NOT SEND IT THROUGH THIS GOFUND ME PAGE (we are solely using the website for information dissemination). Thank you and God bless you!


My Nanay, Perpetua "Grace" Padao, was a great mother, wife, lola, sister, tita, and friend to many people. She was widely known for her charisma, humor, strong-willed personality, hospitality, compassion,  having strong faith in the Lord Our God, and her ability to touch others and make them feel like part of a community/family.


Coworkers told us that when she led discussions during meetings, she would randomly start to sing in the middle of it in order to create a fun and stress-free environment. Due to this and many, many, many... etc. other eventful occasions, she was undoubtedly dubbed "the life of the party". She was a goal-oriented, strong woman. She was the sole provider of her family at such a young age. She assumed her father's role immediately after his death and, she continued to help her siblings until she was unable to do so. She valued education. Not only did she make sure that her siblings, nieces, nephews, and children finished with respectable degrees, she also employed young women from small provinces in the Philippines as house workers so that they too can have the opportunity to attend school and eventually graduate. She always believed that education is the key to achieve great things in life and to somehow help respective families escape and relieve themselves from poverty. 


She was an incredible mother and wife who puts her family's needs first before hers. She taught us, her children, the great values of life: how to be truly grateful for all of God's wonders, how to respect others and our own selves, and how to genuinely serve the community with an open-heart. She taught my eldest sister, Aieden Grace Padao, how to be more confident on her skills in the health care profession; how to lead and support her younger siblings especially during times of loss and sorrow; and how to sacrifice all personal desires for the sake of family. She taught her middle child, Aieleen Grace Padao, how to be compassionate and understanding of others; how to devote her whole being to God and follow His teachings; and how to be a great mother to Stellar Grace Sabellano. She taught me, her youngest, Aiereen Padao, how to value my life and live to the fullest; how to reconcile with God and believe in miracles; and how to artistically and socially express myself with confidence. These are important life principles that she imprinted in our minds and, these values will surely be passed down to the generations that will succeed us.

Nanay was one of the fortunate individuals in this world who have found their soulmates. She loved my father, Edgar Padao, and this never withered even after his passing. They respected and cherished each other. They strived to achieve the same goal in life and, made many sacrifices to provide a future for their children and their siblings. They were an incredibly strong pair and their bond was unbreakable. Unbreakable to the point that Nanay was ready and fully prepared to see him again in God's kingdom. 

She was a true devotee of God the Father and until the end, her faith never faltered despite the immense fear and suffering she experienced due to COVID. Through this trial, the whole family experienced constant fluctuation of emotions due to the uncertainties of how the disease affected her lungs and other vital organs. With her unfailing faith, she still managed to prioritize her children and still making her journey to recovery a learning experience for us. Her final lesson to us: the importance of family unity. How can someone be so selfless and loving and yet was taken away from us so early? This is a rhetorical question that I can now answer with the biggest smile I can muster up: "she was fulfilling God's will".