Maria Lourdes ""Lulu"" Kabigting

Maria Lourdes Borromeo Kabigting or ""Lulu"" to many, 65 years old, from Portland, Oregon passed away on December 23, 2020. \u0026nbsp;She was born on February 11, 1955 in Manila, Philippines. \u0026nbsp;She was the 9th of ten children of Dr. Leonardo and Paz Kabigting who are both deceased. \u0026nbsp; Lulu\u0026nbsp;was preceded in death by\u0026nbsp;her\u0026nbsp;brothers, Leonardo and Jorge, and survived by her siblings: Maria Esperanza Manuel (NJ), Maria Asuncion Duarte (OR), Ramon\u0026nbsp;Kabigting\u0026nbsp;(NJ), Maria Carolina Soriano\u0026nbsp;(WA), Maria Ana\u0026nbsp;Ofrecio\u0026nbsp;(AZ), Maria Rosario\u0026nbsp;Zafra\u0026nbsp;(TX), and Maria Corazon K. Santos (OR). \u0026nbsp;She is ""Auntie Lulu"" to\u0026nbsp;twenty-one nieces and nephews\u0026nbsp;who live\u0026nbsp;all over the U.S. She came to the U.S. in 1988 and lived with her sister, Maria K. Santos and family,\u0026nbsp;until 1997, where she lived in a group home under the care of Rainbow Adult Living until her death. It was remarkable how she adapted\u0026nbsp;relatively well\u0026nbsp;from\u0026nbsp;living with family to living with other housemates in a group home. \u0026nbsp;Tagalog was\u0026nbsp;her first language, however, she\u0026nbsp;managed to learn enough words in English to be able to communicate her needs to staff. She had a delightful way of adapting to her living situation. \u0026nbsp;She enjoyed activities with staff that helped staff to learn ""Tagalog."" She loved weekly manicures, she was excited about contributing to the household with the activities of daily living such as helping prepare meals and doing laundry with staff. She entertained herself with listening to her ""loud"" music, being read to, and writing down words like ""cat, dog, cow, or pig."" on the notebooks she collected. \u0026nbsp;She loved stickers, small flashlights, crayons, markers, ball pens, Happy Meal toys, gadgets, trinkets, stuffed toys, coloring books, Mickey Mouse, etc. She LOVED wearing hats of all kinds, sing Beatles songs she knew by heart, Filipino songs from her childhood, listening to the Jackson 5, watching the Disney or Nickelodeon channels all day and night, wearing necklaces, watches, bracelets, and baubles. She liked tucking in her stuffed toys to bed including ""Batman"" whom she covered with a blankie. She loved all kinds of dessert, especially Filipino sweets: biko, puto, leche flan, bibingka, ginataan. She enjoyed playing cards and board games with her housemates. \u0026nbsp;She was a bright light to staff who were not having a good day. She especially looked forward to weekly visits with her siblings who catered to whatever she wanted to eat. \u0026nbsp;She loved looking at videos and photos of her grandniece in MN. She loved keeping in touch with her siblings, loved to talk, and to update them with her activities. Lulu loved to go on outings especially with her family. \u0026nbsp;She enjoyed celebrating birthdays of friends at Old Spaghetti Factory. She enjoyed shopping, eating out especially to Chinese restaurants, going to the zoo, to the Coast, and even out-of-state to join family gatherings.\u0026nbsp;She overcame her fear of being on an airplane and visited Disneyland, San Diego Zoo, and watched Michael Jackson's show in Las Vegas. She laughed at corny jokes, she loved much, she would talk to you even if you couldn't understand what she was saying. \u0026nbsp;She gave great hugs and cared about her housemates. She would make you feel special if she liked you. Even during the lockdown, she liked her job of checking her housemates' temperatures nightly. \u0026nbsp;When she was teasingly addressed as ""Dr. Kabigting,"" she quickly corrected this by saying ""No, I'm Dr. Kildare."" \u0026nbsp;She was Dr. Kildare (from her childhood era of the Dr. Ben Casey and Dr. Kildare TV series). What made\u0026nbsp;Lulu\u0026nbsp;special? \u0026nbsp;Her laughter and sense of humor and her smile (even if it was fake),\u0026nbsp;her childlike innocence and\u0026nbsp;a\u0026nbsp;pure spirit about her. Despite physical challenges, she hardly complained. She was very friendly always first to break the ice by saying, ""What's your name?"" and then say ""Hi!"" Lulu will be greatly missed by her family, her caring staff, and her house\u0026nbsp;mates. In lieu of flowers donations in her memory may be directed to St. John the Baptist Church, Milwaukie OR ( http://www.sjbcatholicchurch.org/ )"",