Felicitas Hizon Rectra Padua

In many families the matriarch is the bridge that keeps the family connected.  She is a wife, mother, sister, friend, and prayer warrior.  This is a role that is not given freely.  She is shaped by the storms of life.  The rains that fall upon our lives, she provides the shelter.  Her heart is sculpted by the winds of change.  Her soulshine is given via the light of God upon her life.  She is the rock we lean on when we can’t stand upon our own. ~ Chuck Reeves.

Felicitas Hizon Rectra Padua was born in Manila, Philippines on October 11, 1936.  She was the eldest of four siblings.  She attended Sta. Catalina de Siena, managed by the Dominican nuns during her elementary and high school years.  She also went to college at the University of the Philippines, Manila and earned her degree in Home Economics and Child Development.

She worked both at the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals of the Philippines.  She also became a bank manager and building administrator at Paluwagan Bank.  When she retired, she moved to the U.S. to be with her daughter and worked at Dillards.

She was an active church member of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes and also a member of the Dominican Third Order / Mother Francisca del Espiritu Santo community.  She was very much involved in organized charitable ministries.  She also served as a lector at Our Lady Queen of Heaven Catholic Church in Lake Charles.

She enjoyed road trips to food festivals and pilgrimages with her daughter and friends, and she loved to cook.  She was a strong, amazing and very lovable woman that will be missed by her cousins and friends.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Eulogio and Felicidad Hizon Rectra, Sr.; and her brother, Dr. Eulogio “Logie” Rectra, Jr.

She is survived by her only daughter, Therese of Lake Charles; sister, Myrna and husband Honorato Manzanilla; brother, Rizalito Hizon Rectra; Logie’s wife Joan Rectra of New York; and nieces and nephews, Sheila Manzanilla, Phillip, Maribeth, James, Terry, Johanna and Grace Rectra.

Her funeral service will be held at 10:00 AM on Wednesday, July 29, 2020 at Our Lady Queen of Heaven Catholic Church.  Father Rommel Tolentino will officiate.  Burial will follow in Consolata Cemetery.  Visitation will be at Johnson Funeral Home on Wednesday from 8:30 AM to 9:45 AM with a rosary at 9:15.

In compliance with current COVID-19 mandates, we respectfully request that gatherings be limited and all attendants wear face masks.