Ladies and gentlemen. Respected colleagues.

I’d rather be here than watch the Final Four of the NCAA basketball tournament.

For it is a rare opportunity, a monumental one, for me to pay tribute and greet Happy Birthday a 95-year old daughter of humanity, Doña Maria del Valle.

Maria is one grand lady I sincerely admire. She is the model of the life I wish to live – a pyrrhic one that is far-fetched from being attained.

Lola Maria is one who inspires me to be young as I grow in years. “Old” is a forbidden word in her vocabulary.

To Maria, time is always useful, productive, creative, contemplative, combative if necessary, and highly intellectualized.

Lola is always involved with the family, the community, and the world.

She dabbles in poetry, literature, law for she was a brilliant legal luminary in the Philippines, the arts, and politics. She is most at home when she talks about politics.

Her mind is always sharp, her communication skills – articulate, her writings – immaculate, and her mind is golden and second to none.

She writes and communicates with newspapers, senators, state governors, presidents of nations, including those of the United States, and the Pope himself. I have seen in her archives the letters of the Governor of California Davis, Governor Christine Gregoire of Washington, and those from Presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush, Jr., and from the Pope. These personalities answered her letters -- they discerned that Maria is a person who is up-to-date with issues and the ethics behind them. They could not tell that she is an “ancient” woman in the 90s, but rather a 40-year old concerned activist.

Who was it who said that a life without causes must be the dreariest of all? Lola Maria’s enthusiasm for causes, and life itself, is her covenant with God and people, her cup of tea, so to speak. She finds her bliss by being in the arena of action and discourse. At the same time, she finds solace in the majesty of silence and daily communion with her Creator.

Truly, Doña Maria is a gem and treasure of the Filipino American community here in Olympia and elsewhere. Try to find one like her in the universe of Filipino Americans and, in all probability, we will fail. She is one in a million.

I am, verily, proud of Maria. We all are.

Happy Birthday, Lola Maria, we love you.