Bohol Circle, Inc.

Last Saturday I went to a family party. It was with a side of my family that I rarely see so it was great to catch up and see our families hang out like they used to back in the day. Towards the end of the party, Derrick and I started talking about Bohol Circle and how it was going to eventually fade away because of no participation amongst our generation. Just to give you a background for those that don't know what Bohol Circle is, its an association that has a hall or building that they call Bohol Circle. It started in the 1930's I believe and it started off with a group of people from Bohol who got together to help each other with funeral expenses when a Boholano passed away in California. I guess as years went on, it became a large association and one that had a hall built up to hold their recreational activities. What I found out from Derrick was that our grandfathers built the roof on that Bohol Circle building. He said he owed it to them to keep up the place and maybe one day he would help run it.... I thought WOW.... Derrick really cares about his past and where he came from... That hadn't even crossed my mind.. Maybe because I didn't realize it was my grandfather who helped build the place. That night, I went home and what he said really got me thinking. I went online that night and I tried googling for Bohol Circle and found nothing with regard to the history of how it was founded. You would think there would be SOMETHING considering it is one of the oldest filipino town associations in CA, but there was NONE. It depressed me and it made me regret never asking my grandpa about how BCI started. Plus, according to Derrick, most of the OG BCI members have already passed away... And yeah, I could probably ask my grandma what she knows... but I know it'll make her sad.. A few weeks ago, I asked my grandma if she's been to BCI lately and she said she hadn't been there since Lolo passed away. There were just too many memories of Lolo in that building that she wasn't ready to go there yet... So sad... Maybe in a year or two, when my grandma is ready to talk, I'll ask her what she remembers of BCI and I'll be able to write or blog about it so that people can google for the history of how BCI all started.