LOS ANGELES—“EVERYONE loved him,” shared Angela Perez Baraquio-Grey, the first Miss America of Filipino descent, about her brother, Albert Baraquio, who committed suicide in 2006. To celebrate the importance of family, hope and faith in the face of tragedy, the family composed and recorded songs about those themes in the CD, “Lost + Found.”
Springing from the Baraquios’ heartbreaking loss, the album contains contemporary Christian music that they hope will be appreciated by listeners.
Angela said the album’s message is about taking care of each other. She was very close to Albert, her youngest brother, who was only 28 when he killed himself several days after his birthday in November 2006.
Information
To commemorate Albert’s first death anniversary and birthday last November, the family released “Lost + Found,” which includes “Living For You,” a song that Angela sang and cowrote. Lyrics of the song and information about the other 12 tracks on the CD are available at www.baraquio.com and www.tributerecords.com.
Albert shared a room with Angela at the time she was crowned Miss America 2001—that was how close they were! She narrated, “When I won, Albert was home alone ‘holding down the fort.’ He was fielding congratulatory calls from people all over the country. He answered calls from major media outlets requesting interviews.
The beauty queen revealed: “Albert was the one who introduced me to my husband, Tini Grey. We met when we were both 15. Albert and Tini were altar boys at our church in Waikiki. Back then, Tini never talked to me for three years, but he silently had a crush on me!
First date
“It wasn’t until my brother told me that Tini liked me that we went on our first date together—to the high school seniors’ Winter Ball. Now, we’ve been married for six years, and we have two beautiful little boys. And we have Albert to thank for that!”
Below is the second part of our email interview with Angela, who’s now based in California, where she and her husband run a business that offers Hawaiian and Polynesian entertainment:
For the first time last November, the family came together to perform songs from the album. How did that go?
I flew to Hawaii with my husband and kids to perform the songs for the first time with my brothers and sisters. We had performances on TV and radio.
It was a challenge to relive the memories of Albert’s life and death, but being together as a family gave us strength. In our down time, we got together for family dinners and celebrated our love for Albert and for one another. It was definitely an emotional roller-coaster ride. We made a big impact in Hawaii, as many people didn’t know how our brother had died. The outpouring of love and support was incredible!
Most soothing
Aside from your song contribution, what other tune in the album touches you the most? Which song feels most soothing, and which one puts a smile on your face?
The first time I got the album’s master copy, I put it in the CD player, sat with my two boys, and listened to it from start to finish—I cried the entire time! It is such a beautiful tribute to Albert’s life! I loved the fact that we expressed our feelings differently. Honestly, every single song on the album is special to me, because they invoke different emotions.
The first track, “Just Another Day,” which my sister, Tess, wrote, was the song that touched me the most, because it chronicles Albert’s life from his birth to his last moment on earth. It gives hope to the promise of a new life.
My sister, Bernadette’s song, “Beyond the Blue,” is so soothing—it helps heal the pain, as does the song, “Rainbow.” “In Memory of You” always makes me cry when I sing it and it takes me on a ride through all the painful emotions again—but it ends on a positive note. The ones that put a smile on my face are “Smile,” and “Lost + Found.”
On the day Albert passed away, he carried a prayer book that you gave him in his backpack. What was significant about this prayer book?
On Albert’s birthday, my brothers, John and Jerome, sister Ceci and I took him out to dinner. I wanted to give him a meaningful present, so I gave him some of my favorite Catholic prayer books.
Comfort
When I went back to Hawaii for his funeral, one of the items in Albert’s backpack was the small prayer booklet I gave him. Just knowing he had it with him when he died gives me comfort.
You and Albert were very close, you even shared a room in college. What were your fondest memories of that time?
My fondest memories of living with Albert in college include cohosting with him a TV show in Hawaii, “Hit-TV.” I interviewed celebrities who were in town, and he hosted the dance-club segments of the show.
Every week, we’d watch the new episode of our show together. We would laugh at ourselves, and call each other dorks. We always had fun. He was a great athlete, and he was always the life of the party! He made everyone laugh, and he was charmingly obnoxious. Everyone loved him!
Just before his death, was he diagnosed with having a bipolar personality disorder? Do you want to create awareness about this disorder?
The counselor-priest who met with our family before Albert’s funeral said that from what we told him, there was a possibility that my brother had a bipolar disorder, but it was not confirmed. The doctors believed that he suffered from adjustment disorder, and was experiencing situational depression.
When asked if Albert had a mental illness, they simply said it was hard to tell. They truly believed that Albert had the will, attitude, ability and the family support to help pull him out of his depression.
We later found out that the doctors diagnosed Albert with a Major Depressive Episode.
The family is careful not to glorify suicide. We absolutely don’t condone it, but because we have been through it firsthand, we are compassionate to those who are dealing with it. But a patient with this disorder needs to know he’s not alone—and that there’s hope for a healthy and productive life!
E-mail rvnepales_5585@yahoo.com, and read his blog, “The Nepales Report,” on http://blogs.inquirer.net/nepalesreport.
