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• 1 media/CAL_NanaFilm.jpg 2021-04-19T06:55:46+00:00 Who is Jessie Lichauco? 8 A Century of Wisdom visual_path 2021-04-19T07:51:06+00:00 Jessie Coe Lichauco, my paternal grandmother, celebrated her 109th birthday this year. She was born in Cuba the year the Titanic sank and remembers when the telephone was just starting to be used in daily life. Jessie, an orphan born to an American father and Cuban mother, eventually came to the United States by way of Florida where she lived and was educated at a convent. She met my Filipino grandfather, Marcial P. Lichauco in the United States, where he was the first Filipino to graduate from Harvard University and became active in a political movement to lobby for Philippine independence from the United States. Both were living in Washington, DC but met at a party with mutual friends in New York City. A courtship ensued, a friendship developed, and when "Marcy" was done with his work in the United States and returned to the Philippines, they maintained correspondence. Marcy invited Jessie to visit the Philippines, to see if she would like it there well enough so they could remain together. She traveled alone, half-way across the world to a country she hardly knew of to see Marcy again and meet his family, not knowing what to expect. Days later, at age 18, she and Marcy got married, causing something of a minor scandal in Manila. Who was this mysterious foreigner who arrived without warning and won the heart of one of Manila's most eligible bachelor's from one of the country's most esteemed families?