Obituary for Resty Farmer (Vincencio)
Resty Farmer, 94 passed away on the 28th of October 2020 at Valley Springs Nursing Home in Van Buren after a period of declining health. Resty was born on August 21, 1926 at the Province of Tarlac in the Philippines; Resty retired as a nurse from Napa, California prior to moving to Arkansas with her husband, Donald. She was preceded in death by her late husband, Donald Day Farmer who is buried at the U.S. National Cemetery in Fort Smith; a daughter, Hilda Sue Farmer; a son, Scot Farmer; her parents, Lope and Rosario (Lansangan) Vicencio; a sister, Adelaida (Daling) Vicencio Serag; a brother, Lope Vincencio, Jr.
Resty is survived by her daughters, Melinda Moore and Marlene Vicencio Holiday both of Van Buren, Dorothy Farmer of Santa Rosa, California. She has six grandchildren who are Ray Molina, Aisha Holiday, Joseph O’Connor and Donald O’Connor all of California, Nathene Adkins of Alaska, Jenet O’Connor of Nevada. Resty also has four great grandchildren.
After World War II Resty returned to school in Manila and later worked as a clerk typist at Clark Field Air Force Base. The company commander later hired Resty as a Librarian, where she met her husband, Donald Farmer who was a WWII Veteran from Ione, Arkansas. They were married in the Philippines and later moved with four daughters to Napa, California.
Later in her life she was encouraged to pursue in writing a book detailing her life living in a country under siege by the Japanese Army. The title of her published book is “A Teenager Called NENE SAN, growing up in Japanese Occupied Philippines.” In her book she wrote of the many acts of mass murders of innocent people during WWII. She was 15 years old at the time; a student at St. Paul’s College Catholic School and was living with her grandparents in Manila when the Japanese invaded the Philippines on December 10, 1941. Besides speaking her own dialect (Ampango), Tagalog and English, Resty learned to speak the Japanese language.
Resty witnessed the American flyer, Sterling Graham shot down by the Japanese during a dogfight over Manila and later his body was brought to the front of her home for viewing and intimidation in an attempt to get her to admit some involvement with the American Forces. Although Resty was 16 at the time she started the pursuit of trying to find the family of the American Pilot. After 42 years of searching she located the only surviving relative of Sterling and after a phone call details were finally learned about his death. She was quoted as saying “I was a witness to what I thought was a dogfight and when the plane was hit, I saw Sterling bailout.”
Resty was very passionate about taking every opportunity to tell her story about the invasion of her country and the slaughter of family and friends. This was not an attempt to promote her book but rather inform Americans what could happen here. She attended schools and libraries to share her story. Resty loved her country, its people and the freedom it provided. She will be greatly missed by family, friends and all those she came in contact with.
Funeral service will be at 11:00 A.M. Wednesday, November 4, 2020 at Fort Smith U.S. National Cemetery Pavilion under the direction of Ocker Funeral Home in Van Buren.
Resty is survived by her daughters, Melinda Moore and Marlene Vicencio Holiday both of Van Buren, Dorothy Farmer of Santa Rosa, California. She has six grandchildren who are Ray Molina, Aisha Holiday, Joseph O’Connor and Donald O’Connor all of California, Nathene Adkins of Alaska, Jenet O’Connor of Nevada. Resty also has four great grandchildren.
After World War II Resty returned to school in Manila and later worked as a clerk typist at Clark Field Air Force Base. The company commander later hired Resty as a Librarian, where she met her husband, Donald Farmer who was a WWII Veteran from Ione, Arkansas. They were married in the Philippines and later moved with four daughters to Napa, California.
Later in her life she was encouraged to pursue in writing a book detailing her life living in a country under siege by the Japanese Army. The title of her published book is “A Teenager Called NENE SAN, growing up in Japanese Occupied Philippines.” In her book she wrote of the many acts of mass murders of innocent people during WWII. She was 15 years old at the time; a student at St. Paul’s College Catholic School and was living with her grandparents in Manila when the Japanese invaded the Philippines on December 10, 1941. Besides speaking her own dialect (Ampango), Tagalog and English, Resty learned to speak the Japanese language.
Resty witnessed the American flyer, Sterling Graham shot down by the Japanese during a dogfight over Manila and later his body was brought to the front of her home for viewing and intimidation in an attempt to get her to admit some involvement with the American Forces. Although Resty was 16 at the time she started the pursuit of trying to find the family of the American Pilot. After 42 years of searching she located the only surviving relative of Sterling and after a phone call details were finally learned about his death. She was quoted as saying “I was a witness to what I thought was a dogfight and when the plane was hit, I saw Sterling bailout.”
Resty was very passionate about taking every opportunity to tell her story about the invasion of her country and the slaughter of family and friends. This was not an attempt to promote her book but rather inform Americans what could happen here. She attended schools and libraries to share her story. Resty loved her country, its people and the freedom it provided. She will be greatly missed by family, friends and all those she came in contact with.
Funeral service will be at 11:00 A.M. Wednesday, November 4, 2020 at Fort Smith U.S. National Cemetery Pavilion under the direction of Ocker Funeral Home in Van Buren.