Mother remembers Del Rosario as very respectful, loving person

Christopher Henry Manalo Del Rosario, a 21-year-old man who was killed in a motorcycle crash in San Vicente on Christmas Eve, was a member of Guam Army National Guard and served as a teacher aide at Garapan Elementary School.

Christopher Henry Manalo Del Rosario

Velma Manalo Del Rosario in a phone interview yesterday said her son Christopher is a very respectful and a loving person.

“He’s very generous. He would give you his last $20 if he had to,” the mother said.

She said a week before the accident, her son started giving away his favorite items—expensive cellphone, two cars and others.

“I don’t know, but he just gave them away,” Velma Del Rosario said.

Del Rosario and his wife, Svetlana Sasamoto, have two children—3 years old and 1 year and 3 months old.

Christopher is the oldest of three children from Henry and Velma Del Rosario.

Del Rosario was killed when he lost control of a black motorcycle he was riding and was thrown against a traffic sign pole along Isa Drive in San Vicente in the afternoon of Dec. 24.

Police said the victim suffered head injury, internal bleeding due to a ruptured spleen, and numerous contusions and lacerations. DPS said a doctor at the Commonwealth Health Center pronounced him dead at 9:19pm as a result of head injury.

Velma Del Rosario said her son had just bought the Honda CBR 600 CC motorcycle on Dec. 23 or a day before the accident.

“My son always wanted a motorcycle. I was the one who stopped him. It’s always his dream to have a motorcycle,” she said.

Velma Del Rosario said her son was really inexperienced in driving a motorcycle and in fact he was just driving it around his house in Papago.

She said on the day of the accident was the first time he was really driving it away from home.

On that day, Del Rosario was driving home because the family was supposed to have a Christmas Noche Buena at his grandmother’s house in Koblerville.

She said her son came from Koblerville and his last stop was in San Antonio, where he talked with his cousin.

Velma Del Rosario said there was no alcohol involved and that his son was not speeding either.

“He doesn’t drive and drink,” she said, adding that he was also wearing a helmet or protective gear.

The mother said she believes that the accident area is very enchanted or has bad spirits because at least four people already died in that place.

“It’s painful to us. It’s hard to accept that our son died in the accident,” she said.

Velma Del Rosario said she came from work and was in shower when her mother called, telling her that her son’s wife, Svetlana, told her that he got into accident.

“So when the ambulance was going down the hill, I was following the ambulance. I was the first one to see my son when they wheeled him into trauma,” she said.

Velma Del Rosario said the Department of Public Safety reported that her son died of head injury, and that it was wrong because the doctor told her he died of injuries in the lower extremities and broken shoulder.

Del Rosario, as a member of Guam National Guard, had been training once every month. He’s also supposed to get his bachelor’s degree next year, the mother said.

The family will announce later the final schedule for the funeral.