Dolores Cruz Tolentino, 72, born on April 4, 1941 in the Philippines, passed away April 27, 2013 in Tagaytay, Philippines. She resided in Covina, California at the time of her passing. Arrangements are under the direction of Forest Lawn, Covina, California. Dolores Cruz married Porfirio Tolentino on May 7, 1960. They lived in San Juan City in metro Manila with their five children. Dolores and her five children migrated to the United States in May 1973 following her husband Porfirio who moved to establish residency the year before. Dolores went to work outside the home to help support her family in the Philippines and of course her already large family in the US. For most of her working years she was employed with the Los Angeles County Registrars office. She worked 12-14 hour days during election years. It seemed like every year was an election year. She and her family moved around Southern California until finally settling in Covina, CA in December 23, 1977. Christmas was her favorite time of year. Her first Grandchild was even born on Christmas Eve. So she made sure Christmas Eve was when her clan would get together and celebrate the Christmas Holiday. The Covina house at one time was decorated with Christmas decorations all year long. She was a great cook. Her Mother and Mother-in-law taught her a lot about cooking. She will try a dish and she would be able to replicate it just from the taste. Whenever there was an occasion she cooked most of the main dishes from scratch. The table setting would be like a high-end buffet. After cooking she would be so tired that she ended up resting in her room missing the party. That was ok with her. She wanted to make sure her family was together. Everyone would marvel at all the delicious food they were eating. She tried opening a restaurant once but that didn't work. She could never make money on the venture because she just wanted to feed everyone for free. She had a lot of specialties. But her scratch made Kare-Kare was the BEST. Kare-Kare is a very hard dish to make. She would make it and invite everyone to enjoy her talents. She made the dish knowing her family would come home to enjoy the day with her. If she had the ability and resources she would try to feed the world. She taught herself through trial and error how to make Ensemada, Siopao, Suman with Latik sauce, Fresh Lumpia wrapper and whatever she wanted to learn. All from scratch. She would recruit her children to help her make the dishes. Naturally her children all know how to cook but not as well as her. Also everyone called her Mama. She loved to travel and has been all-around the world. She is survived by her husband Porfirio Tolentino, her 5 children, 11 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren. Her children listed in order are Marcia (Pinky), Prince Carmelo, Porfirio Jr, Percival and Phillip. Grandchildren in order are Vincent, Marco, Dana, Anthony, Michael, Princess, Alexus, Ameerah, Andres, Christian and Jared. Great-grandchildren in order are Sebastian, Danica, Eliana, and Jalen. She is also survived by her younger siblings - Eduardo, Carolina, Ramon, Enrique and Gloria. They live in the Philippines and were present when she passed away. In her own special way she loved and was loved by everyone who knew her. Bye Ma, We love you...
