Cleotilde Tulio

Cleotilde Tulio, 81, born on April 4, 1940, in Batac, Ilocos Norte, Philippines, went to be with the Lord August 11, 2021. She resided in Las Vegas, NV at the time of her passing. She is survived by her two children and four grandchildren. Like many families of that era, she was born into a large family and was the second to youngest out of 9 children.

But despite being one of the youngest, and even as a child, she was always so strong-willed. During the Japanese occupation of the Philippines in World War II, her entire family fled to the mountains to escape the invasion. However, Cleo was a stubborn child and refused to go with them. Instead, she decided to hide in the sugar cane fields and would sell eggs and little random things to the soldiers until soon enough she became friends with them and they would even give her candy and coins. This part of her life is what created the indomitable foundation for her charismatic, fierce, bold, and independent personality.

As she got older, she realized her hometown couldn't contain nor provide her larger than life hopes and dreams that she aspired to. So, she decided to attend the Saint Rita College of Nursing in Manila, the capital of the Philippines. She graduated in 1963 and shortly after, immigrated to Canada to build herself a better life. But after 5 years of living there, she had enough of the harshly cold weather there, and immigrated to Los Angeles, California where she would spend the next 50 years of her life.

During those years, she built a solid career as an ICU nurse. She set a standard of care for each of her patients, many of which often called her the nurse with a heart of gold. Most would request for her to be their nurse again by asking for the nurse who uses a gold stethoscope, gold scissors, along with the literal handful of jewelry which became her trademark image throughout her 50 year career.

She always put others before herself because it brought her happiness by being kind, caring and empathetic to anyone who was sick and needed to be comforted by her touch. In fact, in the early 90's while caring for one of her home health patient's she developed a special friendship with Yoli the daughter of her patient. They turned out to be the best of friends throughout the years and was the last friend she had hugged before her passing.

Now while nursing certainly provided her a means to share her immense heart, nursing also provided her the financial means to indulge in her other passions in life such as entrepreneurial risks, traveling and dancing all over the world…..and of course, her lifetime supply of jewelry.

Beyond the bling bling, she was a loving mother who raised two children on her own. She may not have been a typical, conservative Filipino mom but she worked tirelessly to make sure they had an abundance of everything. She encouraged them to be generous, gracious and humble, to zealously chase after the life they want but be fierce and stand for what's important too.

We hold in loving memory and give our thanks to the Lord for gifting us with Cleo and all of the selfless love she shared with us. May she now be released from the weights of her pains as she returns to Our Father.

For her children, family, and friends, we pray for their courage and strength to persevere through the heartaches and most importantly, hold dear the lessons, gratitude and memories we have thanks to Cleo.

Cleo had a gift for healing and empathy and made so many people feel truly loved, happy, and cared for. May her heart of gold be passed on to us.

Her nature beamed so lavishly, and it reflected a lot in her array of bling-bling and gold, and she'd often call others "dahrling" as a term of endearment. Yet despite such grandiose style, her generosity, grace, and humility shined even more. Help us, her darlings, to follow her example.