Still Working On A Life Well-Lived

Tongue in cheek” humor is what has made Maria Girlie Pascual as the consummate emcee around our Filipino American community of Chicagoland. From debuts, to weddings, to golf banquets and our twenty-five years of the Chicago Filipino American Hall of Fame awards of Via Times, along with the Chicago Philippine Reports TV. From the notepad to the IPad, Girlie has made her ubiquitous presence known through her G-Mail column for this paper, acquiring the name for her byline even before the dawn of the Internet when she started writing for this publication back in 1988. Shortly after her column launched, Veronica Leighton tapped her to be the face and anchor of the Chicago Philippine Reports TV. At the same time, she also decided to foray into real estate, becoming an agent in 1988, and a full-time broker in 1989.

Before all of this Chicago background, Maria Theresa Olympia Lorenzo Pascual was born as the third child and the only girl among five other brothers, earning her the nickname “Girlie” which she tried to change in high school. Her father was a surgeon and a lawyer, “Medico-Legal” (legal medicine) practitioner Dr. Arsenio Cruz Pascual Jr of Malabon Rizal, and her mom, the late entrepreneur Teresita Leonor Lorenzo of Manila. She grew up in the ancestral home of her dad in Malabon, her grandparents the foremost fish dealers (consignacion owners) and fish farming landowners back in the 1950’s, the original “barefoot millionaires” of their time from Bulacan. She had to wake up at four am everyday along with her siblings, just to make it to the College of the Holy Spirit and San Beda College respectively, all the way from Malabon Rizal, running through the hallways for the nuns’ and priests’ 7:30 am roll call. When she turned twelve, her parents built their home at the University Hills Subdivision in Caloocan City, but still had all the kids study in their alma mater. Her mom was an alumna of Holy Ghost College like her Grandmother Maria, and her dad, an alumnus from San Beda High School who received his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Santo Tomas, and ten yeas later, his law degree from the Ateneo De Manila College of Law.

Girlie’s favorite memories were her high school days, of family vacations and playing tennis with neighbors, growing up in a small neighborhood that mimicked American life that she read in books, voraciously devouring novels and best sellers. dreaming of a life beyond their garden walls. For her, that was the best time, before she was forcibly uprooted from college by her parents and had her transfer to California State University (Cal State LA) back in 1978. She had just turned 19 and was going for her Bachelor’s degree in Hotel & Restaurant Administration at the University of the Philippines. They could see that she was garnering attention from the boys, some were good candidates, while others made her mom’s arched eyebrows undulate in anger. To resolve her stress and fear from her teenage daughter’s future shenanigans, mom Tessie packed Girlie’s bags and told her that they were going to Disneyland, but failed to mention that this was a one way trip. By the way, Tessie was 16 when she wed Arsenio. She was a senior in high school, he was in college about to graduate and pursue his residency in the United States. It was a happy ending for them, but with their only girl, Tessie did not want to take a chance.

Oh, Girlie can certainly write a book about her travels and travails, how in every compromising or difficult situation she would force herself to think of what her mom and dad would think, and that by doing this, she actually avoided making gargantuan mistakes. Instead, she decided to test the boundaries of her God given gifts and talents after resigning from an accounting position the day she was promoted. She decided the office cannot contain her creative and restless energy and applied for a marketing position with the California Examiner, a Filipino publication owned by former partners Oscar Jornacion and Roger Oriel who gave her writing assignments to promote their advertisers’ companies. One publisher and Editor in Chief for another publication took notice of Girlie’s writing skills, who by this time was also making a name for herself as a singer, an entrepreneur, and as a show producer. Girlie, along with a group of major Filipino business owners like the Leelins of Goldilocks LA, several minority owned insurance companies and an Ilocano hotelier named Carlos Lopez Sr, became the first major showbiz promoters in the United States, launching the first large scale concert that was backed up by a major American corporation as its primary sponsor, the Hyatt Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. Her marketing plan, vision and production packages became the template for future large scale Filipino show productions in California. In short, Maria Girlie Pascual became a well known Los Angeles personality, as a columnist, a producer, a performer and marketer. Her column, aptly titled “Singer’s Notes” drew quite a following at the Asian American Journal owned by Roy Gorre who incidentally, introduced Girlie to a young journalism awardee from Chicago, Ms Veronica Leighton, when she came to Los Angeles in 1984 to receive her award.

When the political tide began to turn the after Ninoy Aquino’s assassination in 1983, the wave of resentment against the Marcos regime began to take hold even in America. Girlie did not shy away from controversy and became an active member of the Ninoy Aquino Movement in Los Angeles starting in 1985, a year prior to the EDSA People Power Revolution of demonstrations and protests from February 22, to its successful ending on February 25, 1986. She met Ninoy’s brother, the late Senator Butz Aquino who was also traveling with the late and legendary Senator Jovito Salonga, trying to garner support from Filipino Americans all over the United States. There were whispers of being black listed for attending these gatherings, and Filipinos in California were definitely divided between the current Marcos regime back then, and Aquino supporters. When the EDSA revolution finally happened and the opposition won, Girlie saw how truly “balimbing” (two faced) some of the Marcos loyalists were, how quickly they changed gears and jumped into the winning bandwagon of Aquino supporters. This was a hard lesson about our “kababayans” that still has her shaking her head when she recalls the same people who tried to shame her when she joined NAM, showered her with praises when Marcos was defeated.

She met her match late in life, just before her thirtieth birthday and wed the father of her son Kristoffer in1985. On April 18,1986, Kristoffer Wolfgang Wildoer was born at the Glendale Adventist Memorial Hospital near Pasadena, and in September of the same year, the Wildoer family moved to the suburbs of Elk Grove Village in Illinois when her husband Wolfgang was promoted to the rank of Executive Chef at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare. Call it destiny, call it “Kismet”, but Girlie, while staying at the Hyatt in Rosemont became fast friends with one of her husband’s young chefs working in his kitchen. Her name was Cristeta Pasia, the young lady who is now the Executive Chef of the White House under the Biden Administration. She helped take care of Kristoffer when he was only three months old and we also became her “Ninong” and “Ninang” (Godparents) at her wedding to John Comerford, also a chef at the Hyatt, before they moved to Washington DC in the early 90’s. Cris Pasia Comerford and Girlie still keep in touch to this day. The Hyatt Hotel, specifically at the Philippine Medical Association Ball, is also where Girlie and Veronica met again after Los Angeles. They decided right away that they liked each other and soon, Girlie became the columnist of “G-Mail”, a name she came up with in 1988, before Google was launched in 2004.

Fast forward, Maria Girlie Pascual decided to become a Realtor in 1988, and since then, has become one of the highest grossing, multi awarded brokers and real estate producers in her field. Not one to rest on her laurels nor brag about her accomplishments, her plaques, medals, trophies, keys to cities, are all in boxes in the basement because she was never one to sit or stand still. Sure, she has made her mistakes and learned from them, but Girlie, to this day, believes in the biblical prose “You reap what you sow”, and for practical, moral even emotional situations, she believes that without her belief in that adage, she will not where she is today in terms of successes in her personal as well as her professional life. Her friends are many, but she keeps a close knit, inner circle of accomplished ladies, some are classmates, a few are colleagues, trusted and tried individuals that have known her and have been with her through thick or thin, and lately, through a major health situation One thing that she can attest to, family is given, but friends are chosen. You can meet people but to keep them and count them as friends, you have to be a friend yourself.

To relax, she likes to travel to places where she can play golf primarily, and decompress. If she wants to have fun and explore new places, she also has a different set of friends for various activities. She believes she has earned that right to enjoy the fruits of her labor, and share these experiences with loved ones. Her focus is on her grandson Kenzo, now five years old, who she is helping to raise when his son’s wife passed in May of 2020. For Girlie, Kenzo is God’s most precious gift, a beautiful product of her collective journey and her history, which, for better or for worse, has led to Kenzo’s birth.

Girlie believes that full retirement is out of the question. Her real estate career has not only given her financial success, it has allowed her to help renters, boarders, roommates become homeowners, homeowners become investors, and investors become successful entrepreneurs. Her profession has also led her into finding good people, lifelong clients and yes, even true friends. As the title suggests, with God’s grace and blessing, she wants to continue to learn, to grow along with her grandson Kenzo and her son Kristoffer, to make her life as meaningful to her and to others, and along with her own curiosity and willingness to try new things, at 65, to keep herself occupied with people and pursuits that truly matter.