Carmen de Drufraisseix

“Madame Carmen Roxas Drufraisseix” by Felix M. Roxas

“”Early in January of 1934, I received an urgent telephone call and I rose wondering who would call me from outside at that hour of the day. The call came from the daughter of Mrs. Gregorio Araneta who informed me that my niece, Carmen Roxas Elio, who had become Mrs. Drufraisseix, was arriving on the s.s. President Wilson on the eleventh of January. It should be mentioned in passing that the widow, Mrs. Carmen Zaragoza de Araneta, was related to the Roxases, not only because Don Gregorio had been administrator of the estate of Francisco L. Roxas, but also because she was a niece of my unfortunate cousin.”

“I received the news of my niece’s impending arrival joyfully because she had left the Philippines when she was barely eleven years old and was now returning after an absence of 37 years [ 1897-1934 ]. She was the younger daughter of my late cousin Francisco, whose tragic death on Bagumbayan Field was a result of the Philippine Revolution of 1896.”

“My three nieces all got married to French citizens and have therefore ceased to be Filipinos. And to cap it all, the beloved mother of this family, who had to bear the brunt of the unexpected strokes of fate which embittered the last years of her life, died in the peace of the Lord several years ago in Nice, that mecca of romance and of vacationists on the beautiful Riviera.”

“Of this family of eight, not one was able to live and die under the protection of our own flag. Such is the sad story of this once prominent family of Manila.””

Eleven years later in 1908 during the American regime, Francisco’s son, Major Salvador Roxas y Elio of the French Army [ who would later become a twice-decorated hero of World War I ], finally visited Manila. Years later in 1934, his sister Carmen Roxas de Drufraisseix also visited Manila.- Felix Roxas