Violeta Villanueva

Violeta Nicolas Villanueva was born on December 15, 1935 in Dingras, Ilocos Norte, Philippines. She was the second eldest of Bonfacia and Emigdio Villanueva. She passed away peacefully on the morning of June 29, 2026 in La Crescenta, California. She is survived by her younger brother Basilio Villanueva and her younger sister Victoria Villanueva Ganata. While she did not have her own children, she was like a second mother to many of her nephews and nieces.

She graduated from high school in Dingras, Ilocos Norte, Luzon and finished midwifery at Manila Central University. She worked as a midwife in Iloilo before returning to Manila to earn a Bachelor’s Degree in nursing at Manila Central University. She eventually emigrated to New Jersey, United States where she worked at St. Barnabas Hospital. From the US she would move to Windsor, Canada before returning to the US. In 1968, she worked in the Critical and Intensive Care Units at Queen of Angels Hospital in Los Angeles, where she also became one of the pioneers in their newly accredited emergency room. While in the US, Violeta completed advanced courses and training in cardiology and critical care, hemodialysis, tuberculosis, and other respiratory diseases.

In September 1972 she was hired as a Public Health Nurse by the Los Angeles County Health Services in Hollywood. By 1975, she accepted an offer by the Kern County Health Department to work in Delano. By 1980 she relocated to Santa Clara County due to her then husband, Mendy Managbanag’s, employment. In 1981 she worked as a Public Health nurse for the East Valley/Milpitas Public Health Nursing District Office. As of 1984, she joined the In-Home Supportive Services Program where she worked until her retirement on June 20, 1998.

Violeta had a love of exploration and travel. She visited countless countries as well as different parts of the US. In the 1980s she drove the entire length of I-5 to Canada in her Winnebago, taking her family members to hidden nooks and crannies of California. She may not have realized how in those trips she inspired her niece, Jennifer, and nephews, Victor and Joseph with the wonders of exploration and the outdoors. Violeta visited her family in the Philippines often, traveling between Manila and Dingras. She also participated in medical missions to the Philippines. Domestically, she regularly drove the six hours between the Bay Area and SoCal to be with her extended family to celebrate important milestones. She opened her home in the Bay Area to so many of us and she was involved with the community in both Delano and Milpitas.

Violeta was a past President of the Filipino-American Public Employees in Santa Clara County, Inc. (FAPESCO), past first Vice President of the Fil-Am Association of Milpitas, first Vice President of the United Dingrenos of Northern California, a member of the Philippine Nurse’s Association of Northern California, Commissioner for the Community Advisory Commission in the City of Milipitas, and past Commissioner for the Citizens’ Emergency Preparedness Commission in Milpitas.

Violeta was a daughter, a sister, a cousin, an aunt, a cancer survivor, a public health advocate, a friend, a civically minded volunteer, an explorer, and above all, resilient.

She will be missed but not forgotten.