Roceli Valencia Eala; 79

Roceli “Baby” Valencia Eala, who wrote the weekly column, “Lotus Pond” in Saturday Inquirer for many years, died on Jan. 13. She was 79.

The daughter of noted journalist Teodoro F. Valencia and wife Trinidad, she is survived by her children, fashion designer Rhett Eala, Giselle, Dennis and Gina, and grandsons Joaquin, Martin and Lucas.

The family held a wake over the weekend at Manila Memorial Park.

In a note to Fr. Xavier Olin, SJ, who celebrated the Mass in memory of Eala, Dennis wrote how his mother was “many things. She was a fiercely loyal friend, generous and kind to the many people she loved. She was a strong and confident woman, as strong as they come …”

Valencia was an artist, “a cook and a baker.” She was a graduate of St. Theresa’s College. She was a banker who worked for the Philippine National Bank in the ’60s and ’70s.

Her column was the offshoot of a “lifelong search for meaning that led her to Vaishnavism, a monotheistic Hindu philosophy that stressed the importance of devotion to God,” her son wrote.