Antonio M. Dela Cruz, the longest serving employee of the Tinian Municipal Council and the oldest brother of Tinian Mayor Ramon M. Dela Cruz, passed away around 6am yesterday from liver cancer. He was 61.<\/p>\n
Antonio Dela Cruz is survived by his wife Jesusa Aguon Dela Cruz and his 12 children.<\/p>\n
Family members said those who know Antonio Dela Cruz would remember him most for his sense of humor.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou sit down with him and it won\u2019t be long before you\u2019ll be laughing with him,\u201d said Antonio\u2019s sister, Carmen Dela Cruz Farrell. \u201cHis strength just attracted people because of his jokes.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Farrell, Antonio Dela Cruz was diagnosed with cancer in November 2011. But the family did not know about his condition until some three weeks ago.<\/p>\n
That was the time, Farrell said, when Antonio Dela Cruz found out that his cancer had spread to other parts of his body. He was advised to inform family members so he could spend more quality time with them. <\/p>\n
Antonio had two children in the military, one of whom was stationed in Afghanistan. Both were able to make it to Tinian before their father\u2019s death. Of his 12 children, only one in Washington and one in Guam couldn\u2019t make it due to health reasons.<\/p>\n
Farrell said her brother\u2019s sense of humor was evident even during his final moments. \u201cLast Monday, I asked him to make me a happy face and he did it even though he\u2019s in pain,\u201d she said. \u201cThe pictures that we took of him, you can tell that he\u2019s sick but he\u2019s still smiling.\u201d<\/p>\n
Farrell said that Antonio\u2019s best joke was his story about somebody breaking into his house in Guam. \u201cIn his house, there were lots of valuables but they didn\u2019t touch it. There\u2019s money, gold jewelry but they didn\u2019t touch any of that. They only stole his picture,\u201d she recalled, smiling.<\/p>\n
Antonio, who has worked at the Tinian Municipal Council for at least 15 years, used to bring pastries for his co-workers. \u201cHe\u2019s a good guy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tinian Mayor Ramon Dela Cruz described his brother as a very simple and friendly man.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s always had that sense of humor even during difficult situations. He\u2019s gained a lot of respect and friends in the community,\u201d he told Saipan Tribune.<\/p>\n
The mayor said there will be a nightly rosary at 8pm at the San Jose Church. Interment plans will be announced in a later date.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Antonio M. Dela Cruz, the longest serving employee of the Tinian Municipal Council and the oldest brother of Tinian Mayor Ramon M. Dela Cruz, passed away around 6am yesterday from liver cancer. He was 61.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-159088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159088\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}