I AM prompted to write this short biography of my mother and father due to my dad’s heartbreaking death in the afternoon of Thursday, Sept. 3, 2026, and because I was very much remiss in not even putting out an obituary notice for my mother when she died two years and eight-and-a-half months ago.
Jeanne Dolores Adan Rader was born in Pasay on Nov. 21, 1935, to John Rader, a US soldier from Reading, Pennsylvania, and Dolores Adan of Naga, Camarines Sur.
Reinerio Quijano Bas, also known as “Rene,” also “Banag-banag” and “Bannie,” was born in Manila on June 17, 1938, to Maximo Deiparine Bas of Talisay, Cebu, and Himaya Gador Quijano of Oroquieta, Misamis.
The couple met as undergraduates at Far Eastern University (FEU), where Jeanne studied English and speech, and Rene majored in philosophy. He was a student journalist, writing for the FEU Advocate and activist, co-founding the National Union of Students and was involved in the Student Catholic Action.
Having converted to Catholicism from Aglipayanism with the guidance of FEU chaplain Fr. Patrick Nolan, it was the latter who would officiate at Rene and Jeanne’s wedding.
Jeanne played volleyball, was a corps sponsor and played the Virgin Mary in a campus production.
Rene and Jeanne married on Dec. 23, 1958, at the Malate Church. They went on to raise four of six children born to them, sharing the pain and sorrow of losing one due to miscarriage, and the other to an overdose of anesthesia during birth.
Rene would go on to a career in journalism, writing for The Manila Times, where he would become editor-in-chief many years later. He worked for other publications in Manila, and later in Hong Kong for the Asia Magazine, of which he would eventually become its editor-in-chief.
In the 1960s, he worked in both advertising and public relations with J. Walter Thompson.
Jeanne became a teacher at FEU before becoming a full-time housewife.
The couple moved their family to Hong Kong in 1969, where they enjoyed their happiest years and also achieved business success with their company Asia Intra-Regional Development Enterprises.
Rene and Jeanne were members of and helped establish Opus Dei in Hong Kong. The family moved to New Jersey in the mid-1980s. In 1999, Rene and Jeanne returned to the Philippines, and Rene returned to full-time journalism. Tragically, Jeanne’s life was cut short by a misbegotten, unnecessary confinement at a hospital in Metro Manila, where she stopped eating normally. Apparently showing signs of a stroke, she was sent home with pneumonia not recorded in her medical record.
To the shock of her husband and me, her son, she died a few days later on Dec. 17, 2023. Rene, grief-stricken and longing for his wife, fell seriously ill a few weeks later. He would get better but never fully recovered his health the way he was when Jeanne was still with him. In his weakened condition, he would suffer a number of health problems. He would frequently ask for his wife, “Where’s Mommy?” or “Saan ang misis ko?”
He would eventually succumb to multiple infections, leading to septic shock and kidney failure. He desired to live longer, but in the end, the infection defeated him. I love you, Daddy. I will miss you forever. I am sorry I did not protect and guard Mommy; if I had, you and she would probably still be here. It was an honor, a privilege and a pleasure caring for you.