Eustaquia Juanta

Eustaquia Aguinaldo Cruz Juanta a.k.a. “Inang Taqui” passed away at Little Company of Mary Hospital on March 12, 2018 with one of her oldest daughters – a retired nurse – at her bedside. She had persevered through dialysis treatments for three years and through her diabetes for more than twenty years. It was her firm wish to have her final moments at a hospital, instead of at home and just in the nick of time, it was to be so.
At the time of her death, one of her other daughters noticed that the clock in the emergency room where she passed had apparently been left unfixed and had stopped ticking weeks prior. It seemed that even in her final moments, she would have her way. She was jokingly called “The Queen of England”, and rightly so, she was the presiding matriarch of the whole clan and was a dignified, hard-working lady who ensured that every member of the family would display respectable behavior. That same day, the entire Juanta clan, including her grandchildren, from the South Bay area, arrived to pay their final respects as they held Inang’s hand for the last time within hours of her passing. She was loved by a host of numerous other relatives and friends for her generosity, kindness, and her fierce loyalty to her family.
Inang Taqui was born on September 28, 1926, in the “barangay” (or “barrio”) of Baruya, in the town of Lubao within the province of Pampanga, Philippines. She immigrated to Guam and Hawaii as early as 1976 before arriving in Los Angeles, in 1981, quickly becoming a U.S. citizen. She was a full-time caretaker of all of her sixteen grandchildren in the U.S. and had enjoyed brief stints as a shopkeeper/business owner in her youth and an employee of both a restaurant and the U.S. Naval Commissary. She was a proud Filipina and a pious Catholic who made arrangements prior to her passing that she be laid to rest in her native country.
At the age of 19, she married Anacleto Juanta Sr. with whom she had twelve children. Three of her children have passed, including one in childbirth: Dominador Juanta and Teresita J. Mayuyo, who had just passed eight months prior to Inang’s passing. She is survived by her remaining children; Dolores Mackey, Josefino Juanta, Luzviminda Saddi, Felix Juanta, Edna Mojica, Anacleto Juanta Jr., Cecilia De Jesus, Evelyn Maglaque, Maribel Sayas; and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
The clan will receive friends and extended family on Saturday, March 24, 2018, form 2:00pm-8:30pm at ‘The Chapel’, located at GREEN HILLS MEMORIAL PARK, 27501 S. Western Ave. Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90275.