Celso G. Tolentino, 90, of Sacramento California and Chesapeake Virginia, passed away on February 23, 2023. Celso was born on July 29,1931 in town of Mendez, Province of Cavite, Philippines to Honofre Perido Tolentino and Rosa Gatpandan Tolentino.
He worked as an Accountant at the Social Security System in Manila Philippines for 20 years. After that, he worked as the Commission of Elections Chairman in the town of Mendez, province of Cavite, Philippines for a few years. He and his wife Amelia, retired from public service in the Philippines when they moved to the Sacramento California USA in 1990. He worked various jobs in Sacramento for the next three years and retired in 1993. He was born, raised, and practiced as a Catholic.
Celso is survived by his daughter, Leah Monina Tolentino Ventanilla; son, Rainer Torneros Tolentino; sister, Filomena Tolentino Dimaranan; niece, Lorna Tolentino Poblete; nephew, Ronaldo Aterrado Tolentino; niece, Maria Tolentino Crizaldo; nephew, Arturo Aterrado Tolentino; niece, Maria Victoria Tolentino Dimaranan; Janet Tolentino Dimaranan Viscarra; brother in law, Ernesto Fontanilla; nephew, Eric Fontanilla; and niece, Evonne Fontanilla Donelson.
Celso came from a poor family. His father, Honofore, was a municipal secretary, but had a couple of strokes before he was fifty years old and passed away in 1966. His mother Rosa, to support her three children, Celso, Gregorio, and Filomena, was buying and selling farm crops. While he was in college, pursing his Bachelor of Business in Commerce walked a few miles to go to school. Even though they are a poor family, all three of them completed their degrees; Gregorio was a Layer, and Filomena is a retired school teacher.
After graduating from college, he pursued and retired a career at the Social Security System in Manila Philippines. When was able to save some money, he renovated his parent’s house. He had three children Lea, Rainer, and Julius (he passed away before he was one year old). He was very close to his Parents, Siblings, Nieces, and Nephews and he always come home from Manila to Mendez at least one weekend a month to spend time with everybody.
I, Ronaldo A. Tolentino, can only speak for myself about how he treated us when we were growing up. I can remember spending weekends with his family, his in-laws, as well as a couple of months during summer school break. When I was thirteen years old, he instructed his driver and friend to teach me how to drive a 1941 army jeep at the time. He never hesitated to let me use his army jeep, and eventually his Toyota Corolla whenever he was in our home town. He was also generous with his money; for a young boy, one peso was a lot of money way back in the late 60’s. He used to live in Sacramento California. On January 2020, his first cousin Lolita Fontanilla was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. I was scheduled to go visit him but instead, I flew him here to Chesapeake Virginia. The pandemic broke and my wife and I noticed that he can no longer live on his own. We decided to move him here and we took care of him ever since. It was not an easy job to take care of an elderly but I knew it was the right thing to do for all the great things that he did for all of us.
He was predeceased by his parents, Honofre and Rosa; his son, Julius; his wife, Amelia; and his brother, Gregorio.
Celso will always be remembered as a loving son, brother, father, grandfather, uncle, godfather and friend.
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It was a joy and honor to care for Mr Tolentino. My prayers are with the family.
Dr. Kelly