Dr. Celso Autsria Dejecacion was born in Manila, Philippines on April 6, 1924 and died in Tulsa, Oklahoma on December 14, 2022. Dr. Dejecacion was 98.
Celso, as he preferred to be called after retiring from medicine, was a veteran of WWII. At 17, he lied about his age and enlisted in guerilla warfare to fight alongside the Americans when the Japanese invaded the Philippines. When the war ended, Celso went back to Manila to study medicine at the University of Santo Tomas. Upon graduation he moved to Leon, Iloilo, Philippines, where he worked as a doctor for the government. There he met Remedios Tabana Gayo (Remy), who he married on January 11, 1958.
Celso loved American culture; he enjoyed going to the cinema and listening to Voice of America. A few of his favorite movies are The Guns of Navarone, West Side Story, and The Great Escape. The latter probably inspired his love for motorcycles which he owned several in his younger days. He named most of his children after American entertainers. He designed and built, with the help of his friends, a mid-century style home after seeing similar homes in American publications.
After having five children in Leon, Celso moved his young family to Manila and then to Zamboanga City in the late 1960's. He applied and received approval to immigrate to the United States. The family of seven settled in San Francisco in 1972 and began a new chapter. Another son was born in 1974 and, at the same time, Celso was accepted to complete his training at the University of Miami in Miami, Florida, so that he could practice medicine in the U.S.
His first official job as a doctor in the U.S. was working for the military in West Des Moines, Iowa; his second was working for the VA Hospital in Iowa City, where he also continued his education to get into the field of psychiatry at the University of Iowa. In 1976, his seventh child was born in Iowa City. In 1977, Celso was hired by the State of Oklahoma to work at the Carl Albert Mental Health Center in McAlester, Oklahoma, where he eventually retired at the age of 75. After retiring, Celso and Remy moved to Bixby and finally to Jenks, Oklahoma. He kept busy by rekindling his love of carpentry. He built tables, shelves and a small backyard shed that was his pride and joy. Celso finally had to put the tools away when old age caught up to him. In the end, when he couldn't move around as much, he was content with enjoying all the family visits, good food and drinks out on the back patio, watching sports and music videos on TV.
Dr. Dejecacion is survived by his wife, Remy; his sons, Alan, Alex, Mervyn and Sean; his daughters, Jennifer and Joni; his daughters-in-law, Jodie and Melyssa; five grandchildren, K-Lea, Zoe, Conner, Charlotte and Alinea; his great granddaughter, Genesis; his half-sister, Gloria; and many nephews, nieces and cousins and their children. He is preceded in death by his son, Mark, as well as two brothers and three sisters in the Philippines and Hawaii.