By: Atty. Marlo T. Cristobal
A dear friend, Hugh Campbell, a citizen and resident of England died last January 30. Jing, his widow, called me to deliver my Eulogy today, February 12. I am reproducing herein on this channel my written Eulogy for two highly important reasons:
One, to let the many Filipinos whose lives were once deeply touched by Hugh during his stint in the Philippines, know his passing and give them those precious moments to honor the memory of once their benefactor and cherished friend. Two, impart important life’s lessons, especially the biblical lessons validated by my own personal experience and believe me, delivered by the Holy Spirit– all for the nourishment of the soul.
Here is my Eulogy:
EULOGY IN HONOR OF HUGH CAMPBELL
To Hugh’s dearly beloved wife, Jing, and his other family members and friends, good afternoon. With my grieving spirit joining you, we are here gathered today to honor certainly an honorable friend, whose body now lies supine in peace before us, its breath of life and spirit dutifully given up back to its giver and taker — our wise and loving God.
The sudden news of Hugh’s death brought a heavy sadness in my heart.
My friendship with Hugh spanned about more than three decades, starting from the 80s when he was hired by our big business group, a conglomeration of corporate entities in the Philippines that operated top-grade hotels, restaurants and beach and leisure resorts, whose reputation was legendary worldwide, as the General Manager of some of these outlets. Hugh, a certified professional, with a competence beyond reproach, naturally suited him as the General Manager successively of our world-class then outlets and tourist haven, the Silahis lnternational Hotel, the Puerto Azul Beach Hotel, the Puerto Azul Beach and Country Club, and the Fridays Boracay Beach Resort. Adhering to his native dyed-in-the-wool style of stewardship of people and business, these Group’s business centers maintained their strong leadership in the business during his time and thus gave proof that the creme de la creme of the Philippines’ tourist sanctuaries were the litmus test for his mettle as a person and an executive in our organization. They served as explicit recognition of his outstanding expertise in the management business.
Being a lawyer, l was the House Counsel of our big house of hospitality business
with the title, Vice-President for Legal and Administration, to which l eventually got appointed, rising from the ranks, and charged with the responsibility of resolving the legal and administration issues of the various outlets of our business conglomeration. Here in this area of legal maneuver that Hugh and I inevitably crossed paths. And also, here began our fellowship that gave birth to a genuine, honest, and long friendship, which persisted even after he left our Group and joined other companies in the Philippines and subsequently in foreign countries where he further brandished his forte and earned his inexorable commendation as General Manager. Up to his last breath in your country we remained friends through our constant exchanges of text messages.
Hugh was totally and brutally frank as a friend, but a loyal one. In our wine-inspired meet-ups, he would reveal to me the employees, his colleagues and superior alike who were, using his term, the “asshole” ones. Hugh was both a stern and strict General Manager and could not tolerate transgressions of his own standards of discipline. This scenario l remember well because it yielded a problem that invariably landed on my lap. As l was the company legal guy, Hugh wanted me to get rid of his “asshole” ones in his domain. Due to his being a disciplinarian, this scenario became a recurring one, that likewise made my headache a recurring, too.
As an honest and loyal friend, he freely identified, too, who among his employees, my colleagues and bosses who likewise hated or did not like me. He told me not to worry because they were really, to use again his favorite term, “asshole.” I must thank you again my friend: l was forwarned and l was forearmed.
Since he was a very responsible person, Hugh could not be otherwise; he was naturally a loving father. I personally saw these family values well entrenched in Hugh when my wife and l visited their family residence or when we were in a joint trip outside Metro-Manila or in a family get-together elsewhere in various days and places years ago, his two children, who were just mere boys then, would do their usual horsing around, joking and laughing loud and hazardously pushing each other. Hugh would dote them the way a loving father would, showing no impatience, much less anger.
There came a time when his two grown up sons lived away from him. This twist of fate unsettled my friend. After sometime, he confessed to me by text the sharp pain he felt in his heart when his sons had become estranged from him. I advised him to humble himself and reach out to them. He did. Though nothing happened, he pursued his love for his children, and confided to me his earnest and constant yearning for his sons. In my heart, Hugh was a father who gave his sons unalloyed love and faithfulness.
Before he left the Philippines for good, he asked me to help him find his life partner, what he called the permanent love of his life. He knew very well whom to approach for this kind of problem because he knew l knew whereof l spoke. He and l had unlimited, onrushing supply of male testosterone that made women our mutual object of irrepressible interests. There was no room for doubt about our restless, at times reckless, gender, and we were naturally bound to the temptation of leading the life of a dashing Casanova of the philandering type, so to speak.
Hugh was dead serious in finding a permanent love. He was lonely, and as a close friend, l could almost hear the whine of sadness and the excruciating throb of sorrow in his heart his extant love problem then spawned. In tandem we looked for a woman for him, but one woman after the other fell on the wayside. His hopes for a steady relationship initially soared high in the sky like high-flying birds, only to drop dead and fall on the ground with seismic thud.
Then one day, after many months, he told me, with all smiles and jovial disposition, he had already found the girl of his life. This “girl” became his constant topic in that meet-up and in all our subsequent get-togethers, injecting this “girl” repeatedly in our conversation, sometimes out of the blue.
Hugh asked me to meet his “girl,” and after some time, Hugh introduced her (a young one deserving indeed the appellation “girl”) to me. On this occasion, Hugh exuded an aura of bliss, as usual.
As months wore on, Hugh’s happy disposition became constant and unique, for before, his love life was a persistent sorrow. He had changed, this time exhibiting the patina of contentment, the afterglow of triumph from sorrow.
As l witnessed how this “girl” expunged the sadness in his heart, l was prompted — or perhaps the holy spirit prompted me — to tell Hugh that this “girl” is the proverbial woman that God gifts to a deserving man, citing to him Proverbs 19:14. The same wisdom that is reiterated in Proverbs 18:22. I repeatedly assured Hugh verbally while in the Philippines and later, through text and mobile phone, when he got back to his native England, that this “girl” was the one for him and God’s gift to him. Reality confirmed this God’s providence for him — for eventually this “girl” blessed Hugh with abiding happiness and blessed Hugh’s conjugal home with peace and harmony.
The “girl” that Hugh referred to as “the girl of his life,” the “girl” that expunged the perennial sadness in his heart, and the “girl” that God referred to as the “prudent wife” that came from the Lord is you, Jing, none other. You were God’s miracle in Hugh’s life.
For all the graces and countless happy moments that you have bountifully bestowed on him in his life with you, Hugh certainly would not want to see you bury yourself in agony and sorrow and be left behind by a pitiless world that is constantly and unmindfuly moving on. Rather, run to God for relief and resolve to get your happy life back, for He promises, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” (Matthew 5:4). What are these things of comfort on earth can you expect? Every word of God is full of wisdom and perfect (Proverbs 30:5, Psalms 19:7) that the human mind cannot grasp easily. God’s thoughts and ways are beyond the easy reach and understanding of man. (Isaiah 55:8-9) But this divine wisdom will definitely convert into reality — in God’s time. Be discerning of these things of God’s comfort, for they will come “according to your faith” (Matthew 9:29). Your goosebumps will signal their advent. God does not lie. (Numbers 23:19, Hebrews 6:18, Ecclesiastes 3:1).
Hugh, my friend, l personally witnessed how you have worked big time in your lifetime to touch many lives, to enrich them, to give them joy (including the asshole in your life with us), now the time for you to rest has come. Farewell, my beloved, esteemed friend.
