Sunday, March 3, 2013

Teodoro "Yoyong" de los Reyes

Sometime after Crisanto de los Reyes (my great great grandfather) returned to Manila from exile, he instructed his son, Teodoro (Lolo Yoyong, my maternal great grandfather), to visit a particular family in Marseille, France (having the surname of Goudeau), with which he (Crisanto) had established a second family. The purpose of the visit was for Teodoro to convey funds to help secure the future of the family Crisanto had left when he returned to the Philippines.

Upon his arrival at Marseille, Lolo Yoyong initiated several discreet inquiries as to the whereabouts of the Goudeau family without much success. One evening, he was accosted with a knife to his throat by one of the members of the family he sought. After Lolo Yoyong explained the purpose of his visit, all went well with the rest of his visit with the Goudeau family. They accepted the generous gift of Crisanto. In addition, Lolo Yoyong noted that the ship chandlery enterprise established by his father while in Marseille had flourished, thereby providing more than enough for Crisanto's second family in France.

During Lolo Yoyong's stay in Marseille, he came across the "red light district" and apparently overstayed his welcome when a Madam of one of the brothels quipped, "No vienen aqui para ociosear, aqui viene para joder." (You do not come here to idly observe, you come here to fuck.)

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