Son of public servants
(This personal post is an attempt at making a local genealogy based on oral knowledge handed down by relatives.)
I realized, belatedly, that I have forebears who were public servants in their time, just like I am now, something I never thought possible, mindful of the well-entrenched padrino system in the hiring of local government personnel.
The four Odon patriarchs and two Odon matriarchs of our clan lived in either Poblacion and the barrio of Wawa. They were, I understand, related to the Menors on the mother side and the Junios (not sure which side).
Telesforo Odon (a.k.a. "Porong") was a public elementary school teacher. His wife was Olympia, and their children were Juanito and Leonidas. From Bayambang, he traveled to far-away Iloilo one day to become a schoolteacher there as well, then came back home to become the Vice-Mayor of Bayambang in who knows what year. The Odons in the Visayas are said to have descended from him.
Evaristo Odon ("Intong") was a bespectacled teacher at Bayambang Central School, reportedly a strict one typical of his era (post-American colonial), then he became the Treasurer and the Librarian (whichever came first) of the school. He was also a successful businessman, it is said, the owner of one of the oldest rice mills in town, located in M.H. Del Pilar, and a commercial building (the Odon Bldg.) in the heart of the Public Wet Market.
Aside from Telesforo and Evaristo, the other siblings were public elementary school teacher Angel Odon ("Angkiw"); carromata operator and public market butcher Faustino ("Nonoy"), the father of my father Romeo; and Engracia ("Isay") Odon Romero; another lady named "Ilay"; and Esperanza ("Patsing") Odon Cucueco.
Descendants of "Isay"
A very pious aunt, Natividad Odon Romero-Agas, whom we kids fondly called Auntie Naty, was a Music teacher and a librarian at Bayambang Central School for a very long time. (She became my Music teacher I think twice, and I can't forget how she didn't spare me from receiving a hot-tempered sermon when I returned a borrowed book very, very late.) Auntie Naty's husband, Pablo Agas, was also a teacher in Central -- he became my teacher in Practical Arts.
Natividad's elder brother, Angelito Odon Romero Sr. ("Eling"), was the principal of Inirangan-Reynado Elementary School.
Eling's eldest was named Ben, who became Prof. Ben Odon Romero, a Filipino teacher at Pangasinan State University and the founder and adviser of the PSU Laboratory High School organ, "Banyuhay." (He's not really an Odon, but an adopted son. His real surname was Almirante Gelua, and he came from a family in Bicol who he said had Spanish blood.)
Ben Romero's daughter, Melanie Romero-Junio, is a music professor in the same school where he taught, now named Pangasinan State University-Bayambang Campus.
Eling's youngest son, Santi Romero, whom I haven't met yet, is a long-time officer at the main branch of the Social Security System in Quezon City.
Descendants of "Porong"
Having the right temper and personality for the job, Juanito Odon was handpicked to become the Chief of Police by the mayor at the time, Atty. Jaime Junio. (There were no police academies back then.) Councilor Mylvin 'Boying' Junio and Municipal Budget Officer Peter Caragan told me of a tale about him getting drunk one time and firing his gun at an inmate who was known to steal cattle, killing the person.
His son, Jun Odon, is a Barangay Councilor in Wawa. Jun's second wife, Elsa, works as a non-faculty officer at PSU-Bayambang.
Descendants of "Nonoy"
My aunt Zosima Solis Odon (Auntie Susay), the wife of my uncle Venancio (Berning), was a master teacher at Wawa Elementary School.
The eldest of my lolo Nonoy's children was Perfecto (Eping), and he reportedly worked as a mechanic at PSU. One of Uncle Eping's children was Rene Odon of M.H. Del Pilar who worked as a driver at the Bayambang Municipal Hall; he was also known as a crooner about town. One of Rene's children, Gemma Odon Fernandez, works as a pharmacist?/medical supply officer? at Bayambang District Hospital.
One of my siblings, Salome Odon Cristobal, is a teacher and worked at a school in Umingan, then Buayaen Central School, then Paragos Elementary School, and now works in Sapang Elementary School.
Descendants of "Angkiw"
One of Angkiw's children was ___ (Ying). I heard that Ying's daughter, Luzviminda Odon (whom I haven't met yet), is the administrator of Bayambang National High School. She married into the very political family of Espinos of Bautista town, and her son, Jerome Vic Odon Espino (whom I haven't met yet too), became the President of Sangguniang Kabataan Federation of Pangasinan.
One descendant of this branch, Joshua O. Caguioa, is a Science teacher at Bayambang National High School.
One of ___'s children was Reno. A daughter of his, Grace O. Abiang, works as a nurse at Rural Health Unit I.
Descendants of "Ilay"
Descendants of "Patsing"
I have yet to establish the exact connection, but I am also related to Municipal Councilor Benjamin Francisco 'Benjie' de Vera. Bae Patsing is a grandmother of his on his father's side (former Municipal Councilor Gerry de Vera), and an Odon Roy-Solis aunt of his is a second-cousin of my father (General Services Officer Chinita de Vera's side).
***
Junio side (my grandmother Soledad/Julia's "Bae Soling" De Vera-Junio side)
Because my father was also a Junio, I am most certainly related to all Junios in various degrees: former Mayor, Atty. Jaime P. Junio, the town's longest serving mayor because of martial law, and his son, former Vice-Mayor and Municipal Mylvin "Boying'' Junio, who has been consistently voted as a top municipal councilor.
May all those who have passed on rest in peace. And may their servant's heart live on in yours truly and the rest of us, public servants.
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