MATILDE DAZO ARCADIO
1922-2018
Matilde Arcadio (neé Dazo) was born on January 26, 1922 in Meycauayan City in the province of Bulacan, Philippines, to Amado Ocampo Dazo and Marcosa Pacheco Dazo. She was one of five children: Gaudioso Dazo, Eufronia Bordador, Dr. Eduardo Dazo and Amador Dazo.
When Matilde (Dading, to those who knew her) was 20, she smeared mud on her face to hide her beauty from the Japanese who occupied her city. She married Benigno Arcadio for love, instead of station. Together they had four children, Aurora (Cordero), Teresita (Magsaysay Boxley), Renato, and Edgar. Her husband escaped the Japanese POW camps twice and was never the same. She would talk about how he lovingly stared at her all night, saying nothing and smoking cigarettes while she ironed clothes for money. Years after the war, he passed away.
She immigrated to America in the early 1980s with her eldest granddaughter in her care. Taking planes and buses across the country, they stayed with relatives for days, weeks or months at a time. With her granddaughter off to the care of her daughter, Matilde finally settled in Long Beach, California, in an apartment of her own that she decorated in pink, white, and black. She and her close group of friends lived in the same apartment building where they cooked for each other, danced every chance they could, and once in a while go on trips to Mexico to bring back over-sized straw hats for their loved ones.
Matilde was known to be feisty, as most women of her generation learn to be, coming of age under Japanese occupation during WWII. Tough as she was, throughout her life she eschewed her own comfort for that of others’. Through her cooking she gave her most indelible comfort. When she lived in Manila, her food—especially her mocha cake—was always in demand for every party. In Long Beach, in that apartment building full of Filipino grandmas, it seemed everyone was in agreement that she was the best cook. She didn’t write any recipes down and refused to (too much work to re-measure), much to the dismay of her grandkids who will spend their days trying to recreate her chicken adobo and kare-kare.
Matilde passed away on August 17, 2018 at the age of 96 as a beloved mother, sister and grandmother. She will be missed not only for her soul-feeding food, but for her beauty, and her impeccably soft skin. Her grandkids will miss her unique way of kissing you by pressing her nose against your face and taking quick sniffs, and for being so ticklish that you didn’t even have to touch her for her to start laughing and shooing you away.
A devout Catholic, Matilde was welcomed into heaven by the Blessed Virgin Mary. Matilde’s ashes will be inurned in Roosevelt Memorial Park in Gardena, California, on October 4, 2018 at 2:00 p.m..
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