Virginia C. Magana (nee Caampued) passed away peacefully at her home surrounded by family and friends on February 26, 2021. Age 87. Beloved wife of Jose F. Magana who predeceased her in 2016. Devoted mother of Maria Lucienne Magana, Jose Enrique Magana (Laurie), Jose Rommel Magana, Eleazar C. Magana, Jenina Inez Cooper (David), Romina Marie Magana (Steven Nichols), and Joanna Tanya Magana. Loving grandmother of Maria Nicole, Joseph Michael, Cierra Jade, Ryleigh Nina, Amanda Lynne, Brianna Marie, Chad Lucas, and Kai David. Proud great grandmother of Marisa Grayce, and Olivia Chayce.

She was born on March 8, 1933 in Pandacan, a district of Manila, in the Philippines. With her husband, they immigrated to the United States in 1971. It was the decade when America opened its door to immigrants all over the world, the best and the brightest, encouraged by President Kennedy’s sweeping social programs and President Johnson’s initiatives into what is known as the Great Society, to partake of its bounties and limitless opportunities. Upon arrival, she landed a position in the financial division in Cigna in Philadelphia and worked until her retirement.

Sensing the need for an umbrella group that would oversee and coordinate the growing number of Filipino organizations in the tri-state area, with her husband and other local leaders, they were the pioneers in founding the Filipino Executive Council of Greater Philadelphia (FECGP) in 1975. An accomplished writer, she was a member of the editorial board of Tambuli, the official newsletter of FECGP; and before Tambuli, Tinig, the first Filipino newspaper in English published in the Greater Philadelphia area in the seventies, long before the advent of word processors where she literally would cut and paste the articles and put the typed columns on paper boards for eventual printing and production. She was also a member of the Philippine Community of Southern New Jersey (PCSNJ) where she shared her interest in Philippine culture and Filipiniana and served in various committees.

She was devoted to the Lord and worshipped at the Church of the Holy Family since her move to Washington Township in 1985. She grew in her faith through service including involvement in the church choir, prayer group, and church sponsored programs. She and her husband enjoyed traveling abroad through several pilgrimages including Vatican City and the Holy Land.  With an abiding faith in God, she lived her life for the greater glory of God, Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam.

An avid gardener, along with her husband, she was in her element tending to their flowers. Their beautiful garden in their backyard, their God’s little acre, amidst whistling, towering pines, reflected an extension of their deep religiosity, a connection to the soil, and a display of their artistic bent. Far from the madding crowd, they would sit back and enjoy their creation, their little Eden on earth, a manifestation of God’s creation, that God is in the details, in the blade of a grass, in the petal of a flower.

Spending time with her family, friends, and the church were her greatest sources of joy.  She was an enthusiastic basketball fan and loved to watch the Philadelphia 76ers.  She reveled in watching and attending her own grandchildren and great grandchildren in their sports, academic and artistic activities.

She will be remembered for her beauty, grace, intelligence, love, faith and kindness.

Family and friends are invited to attend her Mass of Christian Burial Saturday 10:30 am at the Church of the Holy Family, 226 Hurffville Road, Washington Township (Sewell), NJ 08080.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Virginia’s memory may be made to the Church of the Holy Family at the above address.

“A Life Well Lived Is Worth Remembering”