my cousin Billie

REMEMBERING EVELINA

Sis Aurora and I really liked her when we were still growing up in Asingan during the early '50s..She would come to our house ( or we would go to hers ) play, eat or hang out.

When there was this rag-tag Asingan theater which was established in our backyard ( it was a warehouse converted to a moviehouse ) she would come and watch a movie ( it was free to us the Costes kids since my dad owned the lot and building ). She did not like movies a lot but she  had a lovely soprano voice and she can do a mesmerizing boogie demonstration..

Then she moved out of Asingan, but not from our lives. She would visit us from Manila ( she stayed in Labo st. with an aunt from her dad's side) . Each visit from her was like a holiday because then we would chat and chill out over some coke and biscuits then we would talk about current fads in Manila and movies..She picked up some interest re: movies when she was already in the city,.

One time I visited UP Diliman with a friend, and I met her walking in the campus with her future husband, Mr. Ray Punongbayan. That was the first and last chance I had of seeing Ray in person.

Then I heard she finished her nursing degree and she found a job at the St. Luke's Hospital located in Espania extension..It was the best hospital in Manila at that time.

When the noted actor Jeff Chandler ( an action star in the 50s ) met an accident while shooting the movie MERRIL'S MARAUDERS  in Bamban, Tarlac he was brought to St. Luke's . I think she was already working there.

Remember that hilly terrain in that part of Tarlac? Before that dreadful volcanic eruption, it was one of the prettiest sites to pass by when riding on a bus traveling from Pangasinan to Manila. Some of the exterior scenes of this war movie was done here. I remember Pancho Magalona a good Filipino actor ( the father of a Filipino rapper ) was one of the main stars of this war movie. Ironically, the story in  the movie took place in Burma. Logistics showed that it is easier to shoot the movie in the Philippines rather than in Burma.----#

More photos below..

 

The two photos above were taken in Colorado around 1968 where Ray was taking up his post graduate studies.  My sis was also doing some Medical Lab work in another city of  this beautiful state---#