Socorro Alcid Carbonell

Socorro Alcid Carbonell passed peacefully on Tuesday morning, April 6, 2021. She was born to Catalina Hernandez and Pablo Alcid on December 23, 1921, the youngest of eight, in Luna, La Union, Philippines.

Through all her travails early in life, having lost her Mother at three, she graduated, not yet 20, from the Philippine Normal School and served as a public school classroom teacher mentoring numerous kids in her hometown of Bacnotan, La Union for more than three decades. She specialized in science and math; her knack for geography was amazing, She forged strong ties with many of her pupils becoming her friends for the rest of her life.

At 27, she married Juan Galvez Carbonell, a lawyer who later was elected Governor of the province of La Union. She was the quiet force behind his vision of public service and his career as a public official.

With tenacity and resilience she raised and nurtured her children, giving us all she could give, instilling in us the value of hard work and honest labor and civic and social consciousness. She imbued in us love of learning --- the sciences and the arts and humanities. She loved to read and to listen to the news even during the last years of her life. Her love of nature, her penchant for gardening, and her appreciation of trees, plants and particularly, flowers, were so infectious some of us are trying to carry this on with as much passion.

As we became adults, some of us becoming parents and grandparents, our Mother remained and has remained a tower of strength, our inspiration to do and give our best to all our endeavors, Her example of quiet dignity, unyielding grit and determination, unconditional love and devotion for us, will guide us as we live our lives honorably. Our Mother was a remarkable human being, a beautiful woman, inside and out --- so caring and so loving. We miss her with all our hearts consoled by our faith that she is now with God and with all our loved ones in heaven.

Please include our Mother in your thoughts and prayers.

In lieu of flowers, please make a donation, in her memory and honor, for the purpose of helping meet the needs of Bacnotan Elementary School children such as textbooks, workbooks and other school supplies. This Bacnotan Elementary School Fund will be under the stewardship of Emma Alcid Carbonell. Please endorse your donation to her.

Thank you.


Funeral arrangements to be announced later are under the direction of Forest Lawn, Cypress, California. Our Mother resided in Norwalk, California at the time of her passing.