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Veteran laid to rest at new cemetery
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Posted on Nov 23 2006
Gregorio Camacho Cabrera became the first veteran to be buried at the newly opened CNMI Veterans Cemetery Tuesday afternoon.
Bereaved family and friends of the late veteran gathered at the Banzai Cliff memorial park to pay their respects to Cabrera. All 13 children of Cabrera were present during the interment. One of them flew back from Texas while others came from Tinian.
Northern Marianas College agriculture consultant Isidoro T. Cabrera, one of the four sons of the deceased, said his father had just turned 81 last October.
He said the number 13 played a very significant symbol in his father’s death. He said his father spent 13 days inside the Commonwealth Health Center, died on Nov. 13 and was surrounded by his 13 children at the hospital when he died of kidney failure.
He said the entire family would miss their father very much.
“My father had taught me a lot. He loves carpentry. He was into plumbing, mechanics, and he’s a farmer too,” he said, adding that his father liked to invent stuff.
Cabrera is survived by his wife, Escolastica, now 79. She said she would greatly miss her husband who never failed to remain at her side until now. Escolastica said it was difficult for her to accept that her husband had left her.
“It will be lonely. I am so fond of him. We had a good life…I didn’t want him to suffer for a long time,” she said.
Escolastica paused for a moment and added with a little smile, “At least now, I can go anywhere I want to go,” she joked, then wiped away her tears. She said during his 81st birthday last month, she and her husband were still laughing during the celebration. She recalled that Cabrera was so happy to see his family with him.
In the hospital, she said her husband kept praying. “We both prayed together up to the last minute,” she said.
During the memorial service, Marine Corps staff sergeants who flew from Hawaii played taps. Military Veterans Affairs Office deputy executive officer Ruth Coleman said the Marine Corps office in Hawaii has pledged to pay a visit during the interment of a veteran in the new cemetery.
