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About Aurea Labrador

About the author: Aurea Labrador (1900 — 1991). Born in San Narciso, Zambales. Left for Manila to study nursing, 1916. Graduated, 1919. Became nurse to Quezon Family in that year. Appointed Housekeeper of Malacañan Palace in 1938. After Quezon’s death in 1944 worked in the Lutheran Hospital, Los Angeles, CA.

In a blog devoted to Labrador family matters, Virgilio Labrador wrote,

Lola Aurea as mentioned in the book distinguished herself as the private nurse to President Quezon during the Commonwealth period and World War II. As the private nurse of the family, she joined the Quezon family in their travels all over the world and escaped with the family from Corregidor island during the war to the US where she eventually settled. She used to regal us with her stories of countries she visited as part of the official Quezon entourage. As this was before the jet age, it was very rare at that time for anyone to be so well-travelled. She had been to many countries in Europe and Latin America and being part of the official family she had a rare glimpse of some notable world figures such as Winston Churchill, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, Carlos Romulo and later President Eisenhower. She even saw Hitler during an official visit by then President of the Commonwealth Quezon to Berlin in 1936.

Peter I. Galace in a 2013 article mentioned that Labrador passed away during the eruption of Mount Pinatubo:

Many in my town were not so lucky. Just two blocks away, Aurea Labrador, a long-time nurse of former Philippine President Manuel L. Quezon, died of a heart attack, no doubt brought on by the terrifying events. She never had a funeral or a wake befitting her stature.

About the diary: The entries are briefly mentioned in a feature article, “Life with the Quezon Family,” by Melinda N. Quintos, in the Chronicle Magazine, August 15, 1964, pp. 24-27 as contained in Quezon: Thoughts and Anecdotes About Him and His Fights, edited by Juan F. Rivera, Quezon City, 1979.

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