Foreword: The early years of Larry Henares By Kim Jacinto-Henares, daughter-in-law He was conceived in the Los Banos, Laguna, where his parents were professors in the UP College of Agriculture. An instructor called Eligio Tavanlar, later a UNESCO agricultural engineer, knew of the pregnancy before his mother even did because he was experimenting on her urine with a new-fangled rabbit test. He was born after the usual incubation period in the Philippine General Hospital on Taft Avenue, Manila, the only modern hospital at the time, where Ninoy Aquino, Raul Manglapus and his contemporaries also saw the first light of day. He was born the first of the three children of Hilarion Gensole Henares, and Concepcion Garcia Maramba, on April 10, 1924, under the sign of Aries in the Year of the Rat. He was baptized Hilarion Daniel Mateo Francisco Maramba Henares Jr., Hilarion after his father who was born on the feast of St. Hilarion, Daniel after his maternal grandfather who influenced his life in the early years, Mateo after his paternal grandfather who died long before he was born, Francisco after someone we do not know, Maramba his mother's family name, Henares his father's family name, and Junior a translation of the Spanish word Hijo. Actually in his baptismal certificate, in the way Spanish names were written, his name was written Hilarion Daniel Mateo Francisco Henares y Maramba, Hijo. Many of his enemies, and many of his friends, not realizing that his name is already much too long, keep adding something else after Hijo, like hijo de cabron, or something even worse. He was nicknamed Larie, but for a long time, people outside the family spelled it Larry. Thus it became so. As the eldest grandchild, Larry had the privilege of renaming all his uncles. Uncle Tomasin (Tomas Maramba) became Unca Pasin. Uncle Turong (Arturo) became Unca Tong. Uncle Canoy (Nicanor) became Unca Anoy. His eldest uncle with whom he lived in the early years became Ama or alternatively Unca Feling (Felix). His aunties had pronounceable names: Auntie Meling (Emilia), Auntie Pacing (Paz), Auntie Loleng (Lolita). He had a knack to inventing names for things, like conding-candang for condensed milk, a name that persists to this day. Also his toy, autotackodak for a set that included a auto, truck, and kodak. Being the eldest grandchild and the favorite, he was obliged to live in many homes. First there was the ancestral home of his maternal grandfather Laki Daniel in barrio Minien, Sta. Barbara, Pangasinan. Here Larry was stunned to see his uncle Feling dragging a screaming Auntie Pacing around the sala of the house, in what was later explained as a family horseplay. Then there is the Bureau of Agriculture station near the La Carlota Sugar Central of the Elizaldes, La Castellana, in Occidental Negros where he lived with his uncle Feling and his family during his Grade One. Here in the 3-foot clearance under the house, he ate what he thought were Grape Nuts which turned out to be rat poison. He survived. Then he and his cousin Fedi Maramba transferred to Barrio Tinongan, Isabela, Occidental Negros, where he studied Second Grade, and where his father was Chief Engineer of the Montilla-owned Isabela Sugar Company. There was a company movie house showing silent movies at a huge back lot behind the company houses. And there he saw Charlie Chaplin, John Barrymore and especially Douglas Fairbanks (Thief of Bagdad, The Sheik, Three Musketeers). One memorable evening the movie house burned down, and Larry watched fascinated from the back stairs of the kitchen. By the Third Grade. Larry and his cousin Fedi transferred to his Laki Daniel's farm in Manaoag, Pagasinan. This was called Hacienda Nuning (800 hectares), and was once owned by Margarita "Nuning" Cuyugan y Lichauco de Oppen, the richest auntie of Larry's future wife Cecilia. Her father Don Carlos Cuyugan got it from a Frenchman named Rous in payment of debt. (MORE INSIDE)