People We Meet: Florencio 'Flor' Cortez

"When he saw the low-flying shapes on the horizon of his family's farming village on the Philippines' northern coast, he thought they might be giant dragonflies or swarming bees. They were Japanese airplanes, his father told him. An elder from their village had died of a heart attack upon seeing them. But Cortez didn't feel afraid."

"His father, Ponciano, was part of an underground network of farmers that supplied food and provisions to Filipino resistance fighters during World War II. 'They knew the places of the enemy,' Cortez said. Japanese soldiers visited their village once, but his father persuaded them they wouldn't find any guerrillas nearby. They never returned."

"Cortez and his wife, Felicitas, arrived in the U.S. on June 20, 1993. Cortez was 57 years old, Felicitas 52. Before they moved, both had worked as dentists in the Philippines' public health system. They made so little money that they were forced to take on outside work, like raising cattle and sewing children's clothes."

"Leaving for the U.S. was not an easy choice. They were devastated at the prospect of leaving their adult children behind - Frederick and Florecita (so named by combining 'Flor' and 'Felicitas'). But America, to them, represented hope for economic prosperity."

Florencio Cortez experienced the Japanese attack on the Philippines on December 8, 1941, as a five-year-old in his family's farming village. His father participated in an underground network supplying food to Filipino resistance fighters during World War II. Decades later, Cortez and his wife Felicitas, both dentists in the Philippines' public health system, immigrated to the United States in 1993 at ages 57 and 52, seeking economic prosperity. Despite initial difficulties finding employment, they pursued this opportunity. At 89, Cortez attends programs at the Canon Kip Senior Center in San Francisco, where he participates in writing classes, learns tango and Filipino folk dances, and studies computer skills.

Read at Mission Local