Lourdes "Lulu" Plata

Lourdes Pena Plata, 84, born on June 4, 1935, in the Philippines, and passed away May 22, 2020. She resided in Cerritos, California at the time of her passing. She is survived by her adult children: Marlene and Michael Plata. Arrangements are under the direction of Forest Lawn, Cypress, California.

Lourdes was known by her nickname "Lulu". She grew up in the Philippines. The fourth child of 6 children born to Soledad and Jose Pena. Her father died when she was about 8 years old. The family got by, but life was hard. Soledad was a good cook. To make money, Soledad cooked. She had regular customers who would eat at her home thus providing food for her children and extra income. Lulu was always getting in trouble. Her mother was very strict.

She went to St. Joseph's and later Cavite High School. She took secretarial courses and landed a job as a civilian in the US Navy Base in Sangley Point.

Lulu loved to dance and party. She was young, pretty, stylish and popular. She loved American movies, Coca-Cola and Elvis Presley. She would have her dressmaker copy the dresses she saw in the movies. Lulu dreamed of living in America.

Although she was already an adult, Lulu would have to obey her mother. If she wanted to go out, she would clean the house without being told to. When Soledad saw Lulu cleaning, she would say "You're not going anywhere." Lulu would continue cleaning. Later, Lulu would sneak out the window with her party dress in tow.
One particular night Lulu and a group of friends were going to the big city, Manila, to see Xavier Cugat and his orchestra. She had fun dancing to Mr. Cugat's music at the night club. It was late when her cousin dropped her off in front of San Roque church which was close to her home. At the same time, Soledad arrived at the church (she went to mass everyday at 5am). Soledad gave Lulu a huge slap in the face and told her to go home. I asked if she was embarrassed to be slapped in front of everyone or mad at her mom. She told me she cleaned the house for her mother so her mother had more time to do something else. So her punishment was a slap, although painful, she had an adventure, fun and danced to a famous orchestra in a beautiful night club and gain a favorite lifetime memory.

In 1958, Lulu married Ramon Plata. Ramon was in the US Navy. In 1959, a bundle of joy arrived, Marlene (yours truly). Then Lulu's dream came true. Ramon and family were station in Maryland...America at last. In 1961, Michael was the first born son. In 1963, Russell the youngest came. Ramon was assign to a ship and was on sea duty for 6 months at a time. Lulu was with the kids alone every other 6 months. Later, the whole family was stationed in Morocco, then Virginia, then San Diego and finally Los Alamitos. Ramon retired from the Navy in 1972.

While in San Diego, Lulu began working for May Co. When we moved to Los Alamitos, she worked for the May Co. in Lakewood, California. The family moved to the Philippines in late 1972 and to Cerritos, California in 1976. Shortly, Lulu returned to work for May Co. She retired in 1992 as assistant manager of her department. Ramon retired as a medical technician in 1995.

Needing to escape from too much togetherness, Lulu began taking sewing and painting classes at adult education. She later took classes at the Cerritos Senior Center. She took Hula and ukulele. She made a lot of friends. She joined Da Hawaii Seniors Club. She made new friends and was very social. I think she was an officer of the club for a couple of years. She would perform the Hula or ukulele at various events. She even went to Hawaii a few times to participate or support the performers from the club. Lulu loved to cook and always participated in the clubs potluck.

in 2006, Russell (her youngest) had a massive brain aneurysm. At the age of 71, Lulu would drive to the hospital every morning and sit in the waiting room or next to Russell. She would go home early in the afternoon bake cookies or purchase baked goods. At 5pm, when I got home from work, we would drive to the hospital and stay with Russell until 9pm when visiting hours ended. The cookies and baked goods was Lulu's way of bribing the night staff take extra care of Russell. After 5 months Russell was discharged. Russell suffered from many disabilities, could no longer work and had to relearn several basic skills. She was happy Russell was home but it was a lot of work.

In 2014, Russell was diagnosed with a rapidly growing brain tumor and died in June. A little bit of Lulu died with him. Ramon died in April 2015 of cancer, too.

Lulu had many illnesses: diabetes, heart disease, chronic kidney failure and lung cancer. They actually did the surgery and put the fistula in her left arm in 2010 to start her on dialysis. She began dialysis in 2012. By then the fistula in the left arm was no longer viable, so she had surgery for a new fistula in her right arm. I think that my mom through will power, strength and belief Russell needed her was able to get her kidneys to work for 2 more years than the doctors expected.

Lulu was a fighter. She was tough and not afraid of doing anything the hard way. She was fun, feisty and had a wicked sense of humor. Although, we did not always get along, I knew that she loved her children and was devoted to us. I love her and miss her terribly.