Posted by Gregorio R. Vigilar USMA '53 on April 23, 2012:

EULOGY FOR COLONEL JOVEN GASCON VILLANOS (30 March 2012) To Etta and the children, relatives and friends of Col. Joven G. Villanos, we express our deepest condolences. My Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen: I have been asked to give an eulogy for JoV, as many of his friends call him. JoV really does not need any eulogy. A wise man once said that it is enough that men prove their virtues in action, and by that action alone they are already honoured. And eulogies only endanger a man's virtues and reputation, because the eulogy may be good or it may be bad. But it is our custom and practice to ask the deceased's friends to speak out and recall some instances in his life, probably as a way of bidding him farewell as he sets out on his final journey. So, I am here this morning, attempting to recall some instances in JoV's life, only because those who are much more qualified than I am for this task, are not immediately available. I have been told that, from childhood, JoV always wanted to pursue a military career. He applied for admission to the PMA, but PMA's minimum height requirement is 5'4". Jo was only 5'2". But this setback did not deter JoV. He applied for West Point, where the height requirement for foreign cadets is only 5 ft. JoV did not make it on his first try, but succeeded on his second try. To me, that this was determination and persistence of the highest level. I met Jo for the first time when he entered West Point in 1952. Although I was a first classman (senior) then, I was not assigned with the Beast Detail, the group of senior upperclassmen directly responsible for orienting and training new cadets during their first two months (then known as Beast Barracks) in the Academy, and so I did not have much opportunity as an upperclassman, to haze Jo. At the end of Beast Barracks, however, I did have a whole hour to make JoV sweat, after which I "recognized" him. "recognition" in cadet parlance is welcoming a plebe into the Corps as an equal of an upperclassman. By that time, what was known then as the "Villanos poop" was already circulating widely within the Cadet Corps. "Poop" is the cadet slang for information or story or rumor or just plain scuttlebutt. Many times, it was a combination of all these. The" Villanos poop" goes like this. Because of his height, JoV very often attracted the attention of the much taller upperclassmen, who would repeatedly ask him "How tall are you, little man?" Jo must have gotten fed up with all of these razzing. He decided to have an appropriate response and did considerable research on the subject. The next time, an upper classmen asked "How tall are you, little man?" JoV drew himself up to his full height and smartly replied "Sir, only sixty two inches, but every inch a man." The upperclassman, taken aback by JoV's reply, asked, "Why are you so proud of your smallness?" JoV was also prepared for this, and he answered right back, "Sir, Andrew Carnegie was only five feet tall. The English poet John Keats was only five feet tall. David Ben Gurion, the founder and first prime minister of Israel, was also five feet tall. Jose Rizal, our Philippine national hero was only 4"11". Then JoV drove in the clincher, "Sir, one does not have to be a thyroid case to be great." "A thyroid case" is the pejorative cadet slang used by runts like us, for referring to tall upperclassmen. At this response, the crowd of upperclassmen who, by that time, had started to gather around JoV, applauded and roared, "Way to go, little man. Now you're telling them." Since that time, JoV was never bothered about his height. JoV had a classmate by the name of Bernie O'brien, who was his roommate all four years that he was at West Point. This arrangement was not usually allowed. Cadets were required to change roommates every year, but an exception was allowed because Bernie, one of the goats of the class, was continuously in danger of flunking out, and were it not for JoV's tutoring, Bernie would have been discharged for academic deficiencies as early as plebe year. But, in June 1956, JoV and Bernie did graduate together, thanks to Bernie's determination and, certainly, to JoV's tutoring. Bernie had a successful career in the service, and after that became a well-known US District Judge. Bernie was not the only beneficiary of JoV's tutoring skills. There were many others. JoV graduated in the top quarter of his class in 1956. One of his classmates, and a close friend, was Gen Norman Schwarzcopf of Iraq "Desert Storm" fame. Incidentally, Gen Schwarzcopf was responsible for obtaining visitor's visas for JoV's entire family as the general's personal guests during a Class '56 reunion at West Point. After graduation, JoV returned to the Philippines, joined the AFP, where with unrelenting perseverance, persistence and innate competence, he had a highly successful career in the Army. JoV earned a Master's degree in Mathematics and taught at PMA for four years. Subsequently, he was assigned Superintendent of UP ROTC. During the martial law years, he served as the Assistant Military Supervisor of the Land Transportation Commission, the Executive Director of the Board of Transportation and Chairman of the Board of Power and Waterworks. In 1978, he returned to the Army to be the Chief of Ordnance and, later, Assistant Division Commander of the 11th Inf Division. He retired in 1986, after thirty years of distinguished and honourable service, proving time and again that success is not necessarily proportional to one's height. I did not see JoV often during our service years, but I would often hear praise and approval of his performance, from those with whom he worked. JoV fulfilled a lifetime mission -- to give dedicated service to the country and our people, raise a wonderful family, and spread good will and enlightenment to all he worked with, always guided by the ideals of "Duty, Honor, Country." When we recall our pleasant times with him, JoV's passing gives us a feeling of being left desolate and forlorn. But at the same time, we also feel a proud thankfulness that it has been given to us to have been associated with such a wonderful person. We should not grieve for JoV, because he is now in a much better world than ours. Maybe, we should grieve for ourselves, because we can no longer enjoy his good will, his sense of humor and all those many things that have endeared him to many people. As we bid farewell to JoV, we get the feeling that, maybe, the following lines in the last stanza of the West Point Alma Mater song, were put together especially for people like JoV, and I quote: "And when our work is done, our course on earth is run May it be said "Well Done", be thou at peace." So, to Col. Joven Gascon Villanos, we raise a resounding "Well Done, JoV, be thou at peace".

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