Susan Flavier, the wind beneath Johnny’s wings

Alma Susana Aguila Flavier passed away last week, causing many a tear in her friends’ eyes.

I write this piece with sadness, remembering how she touched my life in many ways. I draw Susan’s life from the notes of her children, and the autobiography of her late husband, the legendary Juan Flavier, “From Barrio to Senado.”

Alma Susana Dumuk Aguila (1935 to 2017) was the fifth of six children of the late La Union Gov. Doroteo A. Aguila, a Protestant evangelist and lay minister, and Donata D. Aguila, one of the Most Outstanding Rural Health Workers in the Philippines

Her other siblings are eldest sister Jean, a church pianist married to departed businessman Nofring Caluza in Seattle, and  brother Eddie Aguila who his wife Baby Munar were  federal government employees living in Los Angeles. Brother David Aguila, a lawyer, is an active lay minister and former provincial board member married to Mely who used to be a school principal and Asian Institute of Tourism director who is now diseased. Other siblings who have also passed away in the States are eldest brother Dani Aguila, a “Filipino Reporter” cartoonist and active church worker married to Norma Alampay, an educator, and youngest sister Ely, a church worker married to businessman Dol Padua. 

 Upon finishing high school in what is now known as the Union Christian College in San Fernando City – Susan moved on to study at the University of the Philippines in Diliman and continued to be active in Protestant church work with the Christian Youth Movement, the Young Women’s Christian Association, and caring for young Bible youth campers. With her lovely Filipina features, winning smile, and cheerful personality, it is no surprise that she was also crowned in a Miss Lux national beauty contest.

It was in UP where she caught the eye and mesmerized Pre-Medicine student Juan M. Flavier whom Susan married on Valentine’s Day 1961 – after her graduation as social worker, and after Johnny finished training at the UP College of Medicine and became a licensed physician. Her lawyer brother Dave told me that their courtship was brief; Susan told Johnny to tell her father about his intentions, and if he said yes, she would marry him. After an hour of “courting” Susan’s father, Johnny got his nod.

Many people know Dr. Johnny Flavier because of his decades of work in rural development and public health.He became a well-loved Department of Health Secretary, and a popular Senator of the Philippine Congress. Very few knew that it was because of Susan as a life-long partner that Senator Flavier could maintain his reputation as a simple barrio worker, the “poorest” member of President Fidel V. Ramos’ Cabinet and the “poorest” member of the Senate – while having enough to send their children Jondi, Johnet, James, and Joy (and even some of their grandchildren) to the better schools and have a comfortable home. They were able to enjoy some luxuries with Susan’s “…keen instinct not only for business, but for whatever made life work. She had a nose for investments, a mother’s patience, and a gardener’s faith that told her to let things grow in God’s time and wisdom….”

Susan’s home and heart have helped her eldest son Jondi and his wife Patit practice medicine in non-profit organizations like the Philippine Center for Population and Development and the Cooperative Movement for Encouraging No-Scalper Vasectomy, and allowed her son Johnet to finish degrees in hotel and restaurant management in UP and Ecole de Roche in Switzerland and with his wife Mari engage in a crematorium and restaurant business in Baguio City (both of them involved with cooking). Youngest son James and his wife Cibie Babas are maintaining Susan’s real estate holdings, and the only daughter Joy and her husband Roby Alampay have become successful in health promotion and broadcast-mass media work.

Cabinet Secretary Johnny Flavier asserted that what completed the picture of his celebrated career was “…the woman I married – she who, by her own sacrifice and hard work, afforded me the luxury of being the idealist. It is Susan who has literally taken care of me and my children’s every need. She steeled me by pampering me, strengthened my shoulders for my chosen mission by offering to unburden me of all other obligations. Inay’s advice for me to surrender my salary to my wife turned out to be a lifesaver. Using – and then augmenting – my income from non-profit development work, Susan bought and sold anything we could handle. She started out by serving meals to my rural co-workers then selling watches that they could afford to slowly pay for. At one point, she and our daughter Joy sold frozen chicken from a freezer in our garage. Later, like Inay, my wife branched out to selling jewelry on installment basis. She ultimately stumbled onto real estate and property management, somewhat inevitably starting by renting out the very first home we built with our limited finances.”

People have said that behind a great man is a greater woman. Johnny Flavier confirmed this in his autobiography when he confessed that “…If my life and career blossomed, it was because Susan tended to everything else our family needed.”

A study reported that “…without the Filipino wife’s struggling to augment the family income, most Filipino households would fail to make both ends meet… That study speaks of what Susan has been for all our married life: Simple and pragmatic, unassuming but powerful in her efficiency. I found work that fulfills me and a loving wife who understood how important that was to me. Is there a luckier man than I?”

At the UP Church of the Risen Lord memorial services for Susan last week – her children, grand children, and great grandchildren, friends and family all agreed that they are fortunate to have been touched by the lovely life of this wonderful woman.

Johnny passed away two years earlier – on Oct. 30, 2014. In her sick bed, Susan murmured she was glad she would be joining her husband.

Susan’s role in Johnny’s life and success is summed up in the beautiful lyrics of the song … “the wind beneath Johnny’s wings.”

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