Agueda Ferrer Obituary

Agueda Ybanez Ferrer ("Aida") passed away peacefully on July 10, 2025 at the age of 99. Born on February 5, 1926, she grew up on the island of Negros Oriental in the southern Philippines as the eldest of 8 siblings. Aida was the only one of her siblings to ever come to the US when she immigrated in the mid-1950s.
Aida earned a nursing degree in the Philippines and came to the US as part of a program to address a nationwide nursing shortage. Her first stop was Chicago, where she took her nursing exams. Having grown up in the tropical climate of the Philippines, she often reminisced about stepping off the plane in Chicago and seeing snow for the first time in her life.
After passing her exams, Aida moved to Vallejo, California and met Richard Villanueva Ferrer, also a Filipino immigrant. They married shortly after and had three children, James, Mary and Eugene. At the time, Vallejo's Filipino community was beginning to take root and grow, and Aida and Richard were among its most active members. Weekends were often spent hosting large backyard BBQs filled with Filipino food and attending events at the Filipino community center on Sonoma Boulevard. Aida would often recount why her English was so good: "Papa (Richard) was from Manila and spoke Tagalog, and I am from Negros and speak Cebuano (another Filipino dialect). We couldn't understand each other, so we would practice our English with each other!"
Aida spent 28 years working as an operating room nurse at Kaiser in Vallejo, eventually rising to become head operating room nurse before retiring in 1986. During her time, she was known as one of the toughest nurses at Kaiser, earning respect from fellow nurses and doctors for her high standards and strong work ethic in the operating room. A devout Catholic, Aida's faith was foundational to everything she did. In retirement, she tirelessly volunteered at St. Vincent Ferrer Church in Vallejo and served as a Eucharistic minister.
After Richard's passing in 1978, Aida remarried in 1982 to Brigido ("Brig") Tamayo, also a Filipino immigrant and a widower. Together they remained active members of the Vallejo Filipino community. Through Brig, Aida became active in the Vallejo chapter of the Filipino Veterans of Foreign Wars. Following Brig's death in 1998, Aida remained active in the organization and served a term as its president.
In addition to her Catholic faith, her other passions were reading and travel. Aida regularly turned to books by the likes of Tom Clancy, John Jakes, and Danielle Steele, but in her final years she focused on scripture, reading the Bible and many daily prayer books. Though her nursing career afforded a modest life, Aida found a way to see the world, touring many European countries, sightseeing in Alaska, traveling to New York City to spend time with her grandchildren, enjoying the Hawaiian Islands (multiple times), and visiting her relatives in the Philippines. Aida proudly displayed a picture in her living room of her reaching out to the Pope during one of her trips to the Vatican. She was so touched by visiting Jerusalem, she went back for a second time.
In 2020, Aida moved to the Atria assisted living community in Lafayette, California where she spent the final years of her life.
Mama is survived by her sons James (Michelle) and Eugene (Michele), daughter Mary (Vince) and grandchildren Lucas Ferrer, Willa Ferrer and Camille Jacala.
Aida will be laid to rest with her late husband Richard in a private family ceremony at All Souls Cemetery, Vallejo.
The family requests that any memorial gifts be made to St. Vincent Ferrer Church in Vallejo, California.