108-year-old Fil-Am shares tips for a long, happy life

Vangie Paredes is serenaded by Jon Melegrito. CONTRIBUTED

WASHINGTON – Filipino American centenarian Evangeline “Vangie” Paredes of Washington DC, who celebrated her 108^th birthday on July 26, shared her secret to better health and longevity: community service.

“Volunteer, when you can,” she told well-wishers who attended her 108^th birthday celebration. “Use your instincts. Do your best and always find ways to help others.”

After retiring from her secretarial jobs at the Philippine Embassy and the Pentagon, she spent the next four decades volunteering with AARP as an activist and advocate.

A life-long member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Auxiliary, she visited veterans in hospitals and offered her personal assistance to their families.

She played a key role in planning and building the Congress Heights Senior Wellness Center in Washington, DC. On July 21, leaders of the VFW Post 5471, auxiliary officers and members, family and guests hosted a tea party in her honor at the Chevy Chase House where she resides.

Vangie (center) with her only child, Juan Paredes (left), and Bing Cardenas Branigin. CONTRIBUTED

Auxiliary President Lera Rickling organized the event, which featured testimonials and musical renditions. Residents of Chevy Chase House hosted their own celebration for Vangie Paredes on July 25, replete with musical performances by a jazz band.

Speakers shared personal anecdotes, with tributes about her honesty, openness and kindness to the Chevy Chase House staff.

“Seeing Miss Vangie participate in many of the house activities was inspiring,” noted one staff member. Asked how she managed to stay healthy and look well, she gave this advice: “Eat a lot of nuts, and chew your food very well.”

For her amazing memory, Vangie Paredes was asked by John Hopkins Hospital if she would be willing to donate her brain for research on finding a cure for Alzheimer’s. “I did not hesitate to say yes,” she recalls. “I’m glad I can help.”

Friends celebrate with Vangie Paredes on her 108th birthday. CONTRIBUTED

Evangeline “Vangie” Abellera Paredes is the daughter of Tomas Rulloda Abellera – who left the Philippines to serve in the US Navy during World War I – and Francisca Estrada, who was born in Asturias, Spain and worked as a translator on Wall Street in New York City.

Vangie was born in Brooklyn, New York, on July 26, 1916. The family moved to Washington, DC when Tomas became a chief master mechanic at the Navy yard in 1921.

After attending Congress Heights School and Eastern High School, Vangie won a scholarship to secretarial school and began working as a telephone operator in the office of the Resident Commissioner of the Philippines.

In the early 1930s, Vangie attended George Washington University and studied interior decorating. After graduation she became an executive secretary to the resident commissioner.

She married Juanito Paredes in 1941 and they lived on Chesapeake Street in southeast Washington, DC. Juanito was the nephew of Quentin B. Paredes (1884-1973), the Philippine resident commissioner to Washington, DC in 1935.

Vangie and her late husband, Juanito Paredes. CONTRIBUTED

During World War II, Vangie was President Manuel Quezon’s secretary and later served as the public relations officer for the Philippine Embassy.

She worked for the Philippine government from 1936 to 1957, then served as a secretary for the Pentagon for 30 years.

Vangie Paredes has a son, Juan, who lives in Washington DC with his wife Francine. Her younger sister, Dolores Lillian Abellera, who lives in Las Vegas, travelled to Washington DC to honor her sister on her 108^th birthday.