Dolores Lane Manalo

Dolores Lane Manalo, 89, born on March 7, 1924, in Makati, Metro Manila, Philippines, passed away peacefully at her Los Angeles home in the presence of her loving husband, Gus, and most of her children and two grandchildren on May 22, 2013. Dolores is the youngest daughter of James and Pacita Lane. She had one brother, James Lane and two sisters, Natividad Rubenstein and Lily Felix, all deceased. She is survived by her loving husband Augusto (Gus) Manalo and six of her seven children: Pacita Moreno, Teresa Manalo, Bob Manalo, Laurie Youker, James Manalo, and Stefanie Manalo-LeClair. Her second oldest son Wilfredo (Willie) Manalo passed away on September 14, 2002. She has thirteen (13) grandchildren; Emily Gillingham, Elvira Ramos, Eddie Moreno, Christopher Moreno, Nina Darling, Gus Siggins, Xavier Manalo, Severiano Manalo, Hamilton Manalo, Garret Manalo, Matthew Manalo, Max Manalo-LeClair and Lane Manalo-LeClair. She is also survived by seven (7) great grandchildren, Edith, Willa and Gus Meade, Madden and Emmett Darling, Bella Moreno and Mateo Ramos. She is survived by her sons and daughters-in-law: Richard Siggins, Kathryn Neale Manalo, Warren Youker, Leslie Manalo, Annemarie Szoke and George Manalo-LeClair. Her eldest daughter Pacita's late husband, Frank Moreno, passed in 2008. Her grandchildren's spouses are Charlie Meade, JR Darling, Ani Moreno and Carlos Ramos. As you can see Dolores had a large family.

Born and raised in the Philippines, her journey in life was full. Her father, James Lane, a merchant marine, was born in St. Petersburg, Russia and grew up in Lynn, Massachusetts and her mother, Pacita Romero, was born in the Philippines. She lost her father at the age of ten and lived with mother until the end of the Japanese occupation of the Philippines. She never talked much about those times, except for one incident, when as a teenager she was left at home to care for her younger nieces and nephews. This was near the end of the war and the Japanese were retreating from the allied forces. Japanese patrols were going from house to house ransacking and who-knows-what to those who were still in their homes. When they reached her home, the commander of the Japanese patrol saw this young girl with all of these younger children, and for whatever reason, only God will know, ordered his men to leave them alone and leave food and supplies for them. It is reported that the commander showed Dolores a photo of his own family and left without harming them.

She moved to the United States soon after the war and settled in Seattle, Washington. There she met the love of her life, Augusto Manalo. Her beauty both inside and out was unparalleled as several young gentlemen made offers of proposals for her hand in marriage. After turning all of them down, she accepted Augusto's proposal on the condition that they both return to the Philippines where he would ask for her hand in marriage from her parent. They were married on November 3, 1949 and settled in Makati were Augusto held a position at the University of the Philippines in the Department of Fisheries and where he would later be the Assistant Dean of the School of Fisheries. She gave birth to six of her seven children in the Philippines with the seventh born in the U.S. During this time her eldest daughter Pacita (Candy) was born followed by Marites. In 1953 Gus received a university appointment in Davao City, Mindanao. They settled in the city of Zamboanga where she gave birth to her third child Bobby. They lived in a home on the coast with the Pacific Ocean as their backyard. (There were stories of how she would call out to the local fishermen as they would paddle in with their day's haul of fresh fish and select the best from the day's catch for the evening meal.) Later they would return to Makati, where she would give birth to Laurie, Wilfredo and James. During this time she started her career as an agent in the travel business.

In 1963 she and Augusto emigrated to the U.S. and settled in Los Angeles, a daring move by them. To leave the family support system they had and move to a country to raise six children would be a tall order for most to tackle. Originally the plan was to settle in Seattle with Augusto securing a position with a major fishing industry company. But one month before the big move was to happen; the job in Seattle fell through. Plans were quickly rearranged and the decision to move to Los Angeles was made. Augusto left ahead of the family to secure employment. A month later Dolores would travel across the Pacific (a 22 hr. flight) with six children ages 3 to 12 to care for. How she was able to keep six children in control and occupied for such a journey was simply amazing! She was supermom! The family settled in LA sharing a small 3 bedroom home with Dolores's older sister Nati. For over a year the family lived in the tiny house on Scott Ave. It was very crowded with four adults and six children sharing the place. Gus and Dolores shared a small bedroom with their youngest children James and Willie while the four older siblings slept in a sofa bed with the three girls and Bob at the foot of the bed. During this period she secured a secretarial position to help the family finances, while Augusto worked nights as a busboy at a popular restaurant spending days looking for more secure employment related to his field in science. In 1965 they purchased their first and only home at the current Mohawk St. location where they have resided for last 48 years. There they raised their family and on August 3, 1968 her seventh child Stefanie was born. During the years of growing up in that HOME , she was such a devoted mother to all of her children. As an example, she would commute for at least one hour each morning driving all of us to the various Catholic schools we attended. And she continued this by providing rides to her grandchildren during her retirement years. If there is any gift a parent can give to their children it is making sure that your children grow up knowing that you LOVE them unconditionally. And this was very much her gift to her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. She also took pleasure in imparting some of her wisdom to her grandchildren as they will confirm.

In 1965 she embarked on her real estate career, eventually opening Dolores Manalo Realty in the Silverlake area of Los Angeles. She served the real estate needs of many people in the area and more importantly, helped all of her children with their real estate transactions. As a member of the Los Angeles Board of Realtors, she was one of the most respected realtors in Los Angeles. She eventually retired from the business after 35 plus years.

Dolores was a devout Catholic and an active member of St. Teresa of Avila Parish. She volunteered for many jobs at the church. She gave communion to those who could not leave their home to attend mass and she offered her accounting skills to tally the Sunday collections. Whatever was needed, both Dolores & Gus made themselves available. She was also a hospice volunteer. She was a woman of very high moral standards and was a pillar of strength for her family.

Her greatest accomplishment was her marriage of 64 years as a devoted wife and life time partner in marriage to Augusto (Gus) Manalo. If one wanted to see and experience what a marriage truly means there was no need to look further. Her children are blessed to have had them as role models.

There is so much more that could be said about Dolores' life. In one sentence:
"She was a woman of high moral standards, a pillar of strength, a devoted wife, mother, grandmother and great grandmother, a compassionate person who cared for less fortunate and weak amongst us and who lived the spirit of her Catholic faith."

Thank you for being a part of Dolores' life. In lieu of flowers the family suggests that donations be made to St. Teresa of Avila School http://stapanthers.org/. We all attended this school and our parents were active members of the parish. . She resided in Los Angeles, California at the time of her passing. Arrangements are under the direction of Forest Lawn, Glendale.