office until I graduated. Also, in the fifth year, I was assistant instructor in civil engineering in calculus, algebra, trigonom-
etry, hydraulics and physics.
Currently, I live in Carson, California. I am the president and CEO of GAD Engineering Inc., a family business located in Torrance, California. I am the president of Fasae So. Cal (Filipino-American Society of Architects and Engineers, Southern California Chapter) FY 2007-2009. I also serve as a board member of the TIP Alumni Association, U.S.A. Having had Dean Quirino as a mentor during my formative years as a working student at TIP, and doing a lot of hard work with mostly minimal pay—these had driven me to work even harder to finish college and to be where I am right now.
Gil A. Dia – TIP, BS Civil Engineering 1966, Cum Laude
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Now back to my own story. Many years later, my husband would try his hand in a venture that no other Filipino had tried in a foreign land. I was very apprehensive at the beginning because there were too many unknowns. It was a trail we would have to blaze as TIP did decades ago, but with only the two of us treading an unfamiliar and uneven path. We knew when we started that it would take years before we could drink and enjoy the juice of our labor. But being a part of history, being now considered the first Filipino-American estate vintager in the United States, was worth all our efforts. Material success might not come in our lifetime. And if it ever comes, our children will be the ones to reap the returns, that is, should they decide to continue the legacy we have cultivated.
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