Mandaue’s 106-year-old grandma; hardworking, disciplinarian

THE oldest Mandauehanon woman turned 106 years old yesterday.

Clad in a brown dress, Olympia ‘Impyang ‘ Judilla celebrated her birthday with her only child,  76-year-old Lucia Morpos, six grandchildren and ten great grand children.

Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes and wife Sarah sent a birthday cake and promised to give her  recogntion by  City Hall.

Olympia still has clear eyesight but has hearing problems.

Born on Sept. 17, 1906, Judilla grew up with her aunt in zone Kalbasa in  barangay Paknaan.

Olympia chose to live with her aunt since her parents separated when she was 10 years old.

Olympia late became a single mother and supported her  daughter by ploughng sugarcane and corn fields.

Lucia told Cebu Daily News her mother grew up a  hard working person and taught her to be the same.

“Iya kong gitambagan ug gitudloan nga dili jud ko muhonong ug trabaho kay dili pud kono ta muhunong ug kaon,” her 76-year-old daughter said.

(She taught me to work hard and told me not to stop working because one doesn’t stop eating.)

While she didn’t get formal schooling, Olympia  memorized the Ten Commandments, the seven sacraments of the Catholic church, the mysteries of  the Holy Rosary and how to pray the Angelus.

These she can recite in Spanish and Cebuano.

Lucia  recalled that when her mother turned 101, Olympia started to forget the names of her children and grandchildren, an expected decline in memory due to advanced age.

Lucia said her mother would share  her sacrifices and problems but would never give up when faced with adversity.

“She had many suitors but she decided not to get married out of fear that  her husband would not accept me,” Lucia said in Cebuano.

Sometimes, when  Olympia  needs help, she would ask her daughter to call her son, who is a police officer in Mandaue, Insp. Ramil Morpos.

Barangay Paknaan youth leader Clark Dale Morpos, Sanguniang Kabataan chairman, is Olympia’s  eldest great grandson of Olympia.

He said he never forgot how  “Lola Limpia” would beat him after he climbed a tree against her wishes.

Insp. Morpos, said that his  grandmother was a disciplinarian and a devout Catholic. As a  a child, the police officer remembered praying with her on their knees    in front of the altar before going to bed.

If his lola caught them coming home late, the children would  be made to pray over and over again.

The Mandaue City police officer,  the fifth grandchild, credits his grandmother’s disciplinarian  ways for  his present career as a police officer. /Jucell Marie P. Cuyos, Correspondent