Lita Lopez Olivar

Lita Lopez Olivar was born on July 5, 1933 to parents Balbino Lopez and Josefa Rodrigues in Tanjay, Negros Oriental Philippines.Lita was the second to the youngest of 12 siblings. She was preceded in death by brothers Zoe, Noe, Telo, and Lolo and sisters Gilda, Nora, Sonia, and Punay. Lita is survived by bother Elmo and sisters Mutya and Ricka.

Lita finished High School at Silliman University High School. A school established by American missionaries at the end of the Spanish American War. She attend a technical school and interned as a broadcast technician. She left to pursue her passion for sewing to serve clients and family needs.

She met and married John and immigrated to the United States to live in San Diego. She studied to be a Dental Assistant and worked for a Dental Office in Hilcrest. Again, she left to pursue a sewing career. She was employed by a Fashion Designer Shop in Mission Mills and later at Robinson and Nordstrom.

Lita also made time to explore the wonderful places in the United States she had read about in magazines and books related to the study of American History while a student in the Philippines.

She was amazed at the Meteor Impact crater in Arizona, the fish ladder in the state of Washington, the drive around Crater Lake in Oregon, the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, the Desert Dragon iron sculpture of Borrego State Park, the Air Shows at Miramar. There were driving tours of the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon, the Scotty’s Castle and Salt Beds of Death Valley, Camping at Mount Whitney and by the Devil Post Piles in the Mammoth areas.

It is in personal experiences that Lita acquired a deep appreciation for working and living in the place known as the United States of America.