Anyone who knows Lourdes Aragon also knows her one-line response when asked how she is going.
“Always on the go!”, she says with a thumb raised up in the air.
People endearingly refer to her as Mummy Lulu – not just among Filipinos but locals and other ethnic groups as well.
Standing a mere 1.5 metres tall, there’s more to this 88-year-old mother of four who was once labelled as the Philippines’ version of American child actress-singer Shirley Temple.
Mummy Lulu started singing at a young age of six and won amateur singing contests on the radio growing up in the Philippines.
She took part in musicals in the country and was a regular church and wedding singer for 25 years at a Catholic church built in the 1600s in Manila.
No less than the former first lady and infamous Imelda Marcos noticed Mummy Lulu’s beautiful soprano voice and invited her to a couple of gigs.
When she married Zebedeo Aragon 60 years ago, Mummy Lulu continued with her singing career while raising four children.
The couple moved to Australia in 1989 through an invitation from their only daughter, Maria Agustin.
Mummy Lulu volunteered at a local op shop while the couple, until recently, remained active in the multicultural community.
Daughter, Maria, said it was her mother’s happy and friendly attitude that captivated people.
“I wouldn’t forget this one time that I was chatting with someone on the train and after letting him know that I come from the Philippines, he asked if I knew a Filipino couple named Daddy Ding and Mummy Lulu and I said they were my parents,” she recalled.
Mummy Lulu calls everyone who considered her a mother her “adopted children”.
Four years ago Mummy Lulu was diagnosed with dementia.
Her condition has made it difficult for her to remember even her own children’s names.
Mummy Lulu wished to celebrate Mother’s Day with them but was aware this may not be possible.
