Wednesday, April 13, 2005

The Road Home: My Grandparent's Graves


Down the stairs
Originally uploaded by Allan & Cheryl.

In the distance, the family cemetary sits on a hill that overlooks a valley outside of Baguio. We took a taxi up to Quezon hill, got out near the top, and had to walk down this road to get the trailhead.

I've seen photos from when my grandmother was buried, the year I was born, that show that the road was once passable almost to the gate of the cemetary itself. It hasn't been maintained and the jungle has reclaimed most of the roadbed.


My grandfather's grave
Originally uploaded by Allan & Cheryl.

The headstone reads:

R.I.P
Edwin Bugnay
Died: June 29, 1969

Of course, no one knows for sure when he was born. The old folks did not keep track of things like birthdays back in those days. My dad says that he was born right around 1900, which is a convenient date for calculations. However, my dad also says that my grandfather was a foreman of one of the work crews that dredged the pond in the middle of Burnham Park.

The city of Baguio was chartered in 1909 to implement the Burnham Plan, so named after Daniel H. Burnham, the American architect commissioned to create a development plan for the city by (U.S.) Governor Luke E. Wright. If my dad's 2nd assertion is true, my grandfather would have to been born before 1900 to be at least in his late teens or early twenties at the time of the development of Burnham Park.

(This link offers more information about the history of Baguio city.)


Edwin Bugnay

In the grave beside him is my grandmother, Kangi Biray, daugther of of Sifet, and granddaughter of Biray himself.


My grandmother's grave

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting this. My brother Victor Edwin Lacaden Jr. was also buried near our grandparents' graves. May they rest in peace.