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by Andy
Evangelista First
appeared 7 May 1999
A Matriarch of the Highest Degree
Poning Notario proudly showed off the 75 orchid plants that she nurtures in her SF Sunset
neighborhood home. The 4'8" UCSF retiree is a bundle of energy and is always looking
for something to keep her busy around the large house. On most spring days, gardening does
the trick.
 But on Sunday, she'll have a full house when her children and grandchildren
come to celebrate her 79th birthday and Mother's Day. By Thursday, she already had set the
dining table. Gifts, including baskets of fresh fruit for the adults and candy and money
for the kids, were carefully decorated. It's typical of Poning to be giving on a day when
she should be receiving all the presents. Xenophena Notario, who goes by her nickname
"Poning," gets our vote for UCSF Mother of the Year -- and even UCSF Mother of
the Century.
Her second oldest child, Perfecto Jr., graduated from the School of Dentistry in 1975, and
her youngest, Gerard, is a 1981 alumnus of the School of Medicine. Add the oldest, Emilie
(a Stanford grad), her third, Gary (engineering degree from UC Berkeley), and
daughter-in-law Linda (Perfecto's wife, who graduated from the UCSF School of Pharmacy),
and you have a lot of pomp and circumstance for one household.
There certainly have been many kids of UCSF parents who have earned diplomas from this
prestigious institution. In most cases, however, they were children of faculty members who
themselves were highly educated and more affluent than the average mom and pop. Poning
Notario, a native of the Philippines, never graduated from her high school. It was
destroyed during World War II. Her late husband, Perfecto Sr., who also retired from UCSF,
made it only through the seventh grade.
Poning came to UCSF in 1959 to work in the department of nutrition and dietetics, where
she would spend most of the next 26 years in the cafeteria laboring in, and then finally
supervising, the salad section. She became well known there for her fast-paced work style
and the French dressing, which she concocted daily for hundreds to enjoy. Perfecto Sr.
worked here for 25 years as a storekeeper in the old UC Hospital pharmacy. He held a
second full-time job in the evenings at the Fairmont Hotel.
"We worked and worked so very hard to make sure our children could have a good
education," said Poning. She retired in 1985 after Gerard completed his internal
medicine residency at the VA Hospital in Martinez. Perfecto Sr. passed away two years
later.
What was the secret to their own and children's success? "I am very strict. I made
sure they always studied," she said. Her husband, she said, was too soft, so Poning
had to play the bad guy. She was the one who closely supervised their kids' "salad
days." No television before all homework was done. No staying out late if they were
allowed to go out at all. She even picked out the kids' prom dates. "Aw, mom,"
was the typical rejoinder in that home. "If you didn't go to college or plan to go to
college, you could not come into my house." We don't think she was kidding.
When one of the boys wanted to take a part-time job to earn college expense money, Poning
talked him out of it because she worried that it would distract from his studies. She
instead took on extra work to increase his allowance.
Poning speaks fondly of her UCSF days. "I met a lot of good people and made many
friends." She comes to the campus occasionally for visits to the benefits office and
to her physician, internist Roger Kimball, whom she first met when he was a resident and
used to eat in the cafeteria. It was also nice working at the same university that her
children attended. There were even times when Perfecto Jr. or Gerard would run up to the
cafeteria and hit her up for lunch money.
Poning, who does not drive, loves to walk miles to go shopping. But she spends most of her
time at home, which she is always proud to show off -- not just the garden, but also the
converted bedroom with shelves full of books. She has kept all her kids' college
textbooks. Poning takes us to another room filled with photographs of her children and
grandchildren. She talks about each. Emilie is an administrator and technician at a
radiology clinic. Gary is a systems manager for Blue Shield. Pefecto has his own dental
practice in Palo Alto, and his wife, Linda, is a chief pharmacist for Kaiser. Gerard is a
medical director for Abbott Pharmaceuticals in Chicago. Like any grandmother, she boasts
about the grandchildren. One is a nursing student at USF, one attends UC San Diego, a
grandson at Cal State-Bakersfield hopes to apply to the UCSF School of Medicine, and
another goes to Princeton.
Poning takes us to the patio, where she keeps many of her collection of several hundred
plants and flowers. She spots a fully bloomed orchid. She carefully gets it ready as a
gift for someone else to enjoy.
For the Next Potluck
The new edition of the "Anatomical Chart Company" products catalog has its usual
selection of skeletons, models and full-sized charts designed to teach us about every
single body part. And it also includes in its "great gift ideas" section such
items as a chocolate tooth, chocolate ears ("ear-resitable"), chocolate brain
("raise your IQ" or "think sweet thoughts") and a chocolate heart (no
reduction in calories, but it's perfectly shaped).
 The topper is the "brain gelatin mold" for $11.95. "Fill the
plastic mold with a gelatin mix and a few hours later, out pops a life-size anatomically
correct brain." Perfect for the neuroscientist who wants to be the life of the next
lab party or anyone who wants to present co-workers with their just desserts. Check out
the catalog website.
Some Heavy Food for Thought
We quote the LA Times, which quoted Steven Blair, a research director at the Cooper
Institute for Aerobic Research in Dallas, who quoted some recent research. "One
researcher studied an office and found that where we used to spend a couple minutes an
hour walking down the hall to talk to a colleague, now we stay sitting and send an email.
He estimated that one little bit of decreased activity adds up to 1 1/2 pounds of fat a
year." Maybe that's why we have all those construction crews working in buildings at
our various campuses. Every time we rewire an office in this high tech day and age, we
need to strengthen the floors and ceilings to prepare for the extra poundage in future
years.
Readers: If you have any items or suggestions
for this column, send us an email: aevangelista@pubaff.ucsf.edu.
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