Lourdes Livas… A Woman for All Seasons … By Elsie Sy-Niebar

Two months following her successful chairmanship of the Philippine Independence Week Committee (PIWC) 2017, Lourdes Corbo Livas, and her husband, Dr. Bernardo Livas, together with their most trusted stay-in employee, Gemma Cruz, toured North Carolina, Tennessee, and Missouri for over two weeks. They always do this local tours to visit relatives, friends and those Heavenly Scenery in America. In North Carolina, Dr. Livas was a godfather to one of their friend’s daughters.

“It was indeed, very relaxing,” Lourdes concluded with that big smile. While we were talking about the PIWC cover story in the July issue of Via Times, nonchalantly, I brought out this subject to Lourdes: “Maybe you must have a Curtain Call by being our September Cover Girl.” Curtain Call, in theatrical lingo means, the time when the players go onstage to make their final bow!

“Oh, I think, that would be fun,” Lourdes agreed. And… so she agreed to be our September Cover Girl featuring some of her “Curtain Call” pictures. Due to lack of space, let me walk through very quickly on the Life of Lourdes Corbo Livas, the youngest of twelve children of the late Mr. Lope Corbo, a school principal and his late wife, Mrs. Ana Ramos Corbo, a public school teacher. They were raised in Cebu City by their disciplinarian parents who made sure all of them have college degrees: Lawyers, Accountants, Teachers, etc. According to Lourdes, her love for dancing started when she was a young girl. But she was only allowed to go dancing with a chaperone. From their elementary to high school, the Corvo children all went to Catholic Schools. Lourdes graduated from Southwestern University in Cebu City with a degree in Business Administration. Her first job in Chicago was at the American National Bank, now Bank of America. After ten years in the bank, she quit and put up her own real estate company, the: LOURDES LIVAS PROPERTIES, INC., LLC. She has rental properties in Chicago, Palatine, Mt. Prospect, and Schiller Park. Last year, she sold her properties in New York. For the upkeep of these properties, she has a maintenance team of carpenters, electrical engineers, janitors, etc., under her management. When her tenants have problems, she works like a fireman or policeman who responds to their calls. To keep up with the latest real estate management trend, Lourdes attends seminars and special schools like the Donald Trump Real Estate School.

In addition to her real estate business, Lourdes also manages her husband’s Medical Private Practice. Jokingly, she said: “I give my husband his allowance.”

Seriously, she said: “It is not easy, especially when problems we could not avoid pop up. But I take it easy. And then… go dancing or attend community meetings of the organizations I belong.

Like the PIWC 2017. Wow. It used up some of my business hours. It’s fine. It’s a service to our community,” Lourdes concluded with a happy smile. Lourdes wears several Beauty Crowns and has been a recipient of various awards, one of which is as “WOMAN of the YEAR” recipient of the Chicago Filipino Asian American Hall of Fame.

Is this really … a CURTAIN CALL for Lourdes Livas? Okay. A big Round of Applause, then. On the other hand… it remains to be seen. Lourdes cannot say NO when people ask her to help. Oh, well. Whatever Lourdes does, she does it successfully. Because Lourdes Corbo Livas is a Woman for all Seasons.(esn)