When rain started pouring in May, our hut leaked and the Navy Base became very damp. I took the PMA school bus to Ft. del Pilar, while Pat took the children to school in my car.
Tony enrolled in the Engineering Department of Baguio College, while the girls and Toots enrolled in St. Louis College (now a University).
It did not take long before we transferred to the newly built quarters in Ft. del Pilar, which was better than the old hut in the Navy Base, although further for the school children but nearer for me. They rode the school bus while I rode our car to the office in Fort del Pilar.
The kids loved sliding down the hills on the pine leaves with carton sleds.
Toots and his sisters used to go to “blueberry hill” looking for berries and guavas to eat.
I became a law instructor in the Science Department and also taught history of civilization and Rizal Course.
The roads in Ft. del Pilar leading to our quarters were then being asphalted and I told Tony to work as a laborer, which he did.
His friends, who were the sons of Capt. Sorvelino and Capt. Miranda, were kidding him for working, but he told them that he was exercising his arms and legs with the shovel and wheelbarrow job of spreading crushed rocks to be gone over by a roadroller. He also made friends with the sons of enlisted men in the enlisted men’s barrio, like the son of F/Sgt. Levcite.
Tony and his friends later on took the PMA exam and he passed, leaving his friends behind, envying him. It was predicted by Col. Ongehangeo, his instructor in math in Baguio Colleges, that Tony could easily pass the PMA exam compared to other PMA boys.
Every weekend Pat and I had parties for officers in the Officers Clubhouse in Camp Allen. Pat became the PRO for the PMA Ladies Club and enjoyed soliciting contributions for the construction of our PMA chapel in del Pilar.
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