Click here to view the Memorial for Nora Santos in shared screen with Speaker View or in shared screen with Gallery View.  

Click here to view the Slideshow for Nora Santos.

Nora Banzon Santos was born on April 21, 1937 in Balanga Bataan, in the Philippines, the daughter of Serapia S. and Jose T. Banzon. 

Nora was the eleventh of thirteen children and was always surrounded by family. She had many loving memories of all her siblings and their families - Lourdes, Josefa, Amparo, Agnes, Jose (Joeban), Tomas (Tommy), Severino (Ben), Sergio, Bella, Noel, Eduardo (Ed), and Renato. She so enjoyed gathering stories from her siblings and reminiscing with extended family to write a short family history for the family book by Victor Abello. She proudly referred to this branch of the Banzon family tree as “A Fruitful Vine.” 

Nora was always grateful for her Aunt Pilar (Ima), who took care of her and brother Ed when they were separated from the rest of the family during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines in WWII. Sadly, during that time she lost her mother and infant brother, Rene. After surviving the war, Nora returned to Balanga to be with her father and resume school there. When she was twelve she lost her father, who she remembered so fondly.

After the loss of her parents, Nora was cared for by her older siblings and finished at the top of her high school class at Tomas del Rosario Academy. She then went on to study at the University of the Philippines. She graduated from the University of the Philippines with a degree in Chemistry.  She was a graduate student at U.P. when she met Rodolfo J. Santos, who had studied medicine there.

They were married in June 1962.  Nora was lovingly welcomed into the Santos family when she married Rody, the eldest of twelve children of Juliana and Eulogio Santos. Over the years, many family vacations were spent visiting Rody’s siblings and their families throughout the U.S., Canada, and the Philippines. Nora loved keeping in touch throughout the years, exchanging stories about children and grandchildren. In recent years she delighted in sharing pictures of the beautiful flower gardens that she tended with joy.

Their first son, Elmer, was born in 1963.  Later that year they moved to the U.S. and settled in Lakewood, Ohio.  Michael, their second son, was born in Lakewood in 1964. In 1965 they moved to Philadelphia, PA where Rody had a fellowship at Hahnemann Hospital. Their daughters Marianne and Ellen were born in Philadelphia in 1966 and 1968 respectively.

Nora was a kind and generous mother to her children.  While she had very high standards, she pushed her children to succeed with a combination of patience, support, understanding, and love.  Nora’s creativity and resourcefulness were evident in everything from the specialty cakes she learned to bake and decorate to the kids’ success in school.

Once the children were off to college she went back to school and earned a Masters of Business Administration from Philadelphia University in 1989. Nora became the business manager for the Santos family practice in 1991. The medical practice flourished until Rody retired in 2005.

Along with Ellen, they moved to Boston MA in 2005 to be with Marianne and Steven and their new twins, William and Steven. She found great  joy in her role as Lola and treasured taking care of her grandsons. She and Rody continued their love of books, music, gardening and each other.