Mario Constantino Feliciano's Obituary
Mario Constantino Feliciano, age 88, passed away on Thursday, November 28, 2024, in Richardson, Texas. He was born in Baguio City, Philippines on April 4, 1936, to parents, Josefa Constantino and Nicolas Feliciano, Sr. Brother to Nicolas, Jr., Josefina (Tita), and Imelda, Mario was the third of four siblings.
When he was a medical student at University of Santo Tomas Medical School, he met his wife, Maria Lourdes (“Lulu”) Ortiz Feliciano, at a hospital in the Philippines. A mutual friend introduced Mario to Lulu, who was a medical student at Manila Central University.
After Mario and Lulu married on January 1, 1963, they emigrated to the United States of America, each becoming residents in Boston, Massachusetts.
While Mario was a medical resident, Lulu gave birth to their first two children, Melanie Agnes and Michael Nicholas (Nick).
After Mario did his residency in general surgery at Carney Hospital in Dorcester, a suburb of Boston, he became a fellow in cancer surgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, New York.
Shortly following his father’s death in the Philippines, Mario and Lulu moved back to Quezon City, Philippines for almost two years before returning to the United States, to Ludlow, Massachusetts.
While Mario and Lulu were living in the Philippines, their next two children, Maria Katrina and Marc Lawrence were born.
After approximately one year in Ludlow, Mario and Lulu moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where Mario worked as a general surgeon at St. Anthony Hospital. Following about five (5) years in Louisville, Mario and Lulu moved to Dallas, Texas, in December 1975, where they raised their four (4) children. They remained in Dallas for 23 years until 1997.
Mario practiced general surgery and surgical oncology in Mesquite, Texas, at Mesquite Community Hospital, which is now Dallas Regional Medical Center.
A job that was a transition to Mario’s retirement prompted Mario and Lulu’s move to Sayre, Oklahoma in 1997. Upon Mario’s retirement in 2000, they moved to Las Vegas, Nevada. After residing in Las Vegas for almost 11 years, Mario and Maria moved to Cypress, California to join Melanie.
When Melanie decided to return home to Dallas in February 2021, settling in Sachse, TX, Lulu and Mario followed her.
Together, Mario and Lulu made living the “American dream” a reality through hard work and a good work ethic. They built a wonderful and loving home for their family and provided their children with superb educations, for which their children are extremely grateful.
Mario’s hobbies and interests shaped the lives of his children and grandchildren. They, too, inherited his passion for sports, music, movies, fine dining, animals, travel, and fashion. Very athletic in his younger days, Mario loved to roller skate, play basketball and tennis, run, and bike. He frequently played tennis with Melanie and basketball with his sons. And he got Katrina into running her sophomore year in college. When she was home from college, Mario and Katrina would run daily on the Lake Highlands High School track and get frozen yogurt afterwards. Shortly before retirement, Mario picked up golf and played avidly, often golfing three to four days per week.
Listening to music seemed to invigorate Mario and Lulu. When they were in Las Vegas, they saw so many concerts of musical artists, including Sting, Maroon 5, Celine Dion and Lionel Richie. They saw more concerts than most of their children did!
As an enthusiastic Dallas Cowboys fan, he would often take his kids to watch live games at Cowboy stadium with quarterback Roger Staubach, his favorite player, leading the team. (Marc recently obtained a signed autograph of Roger Staubach, addressed to our father with a kind note, saying he hoped our father “gets back on his feet soon.”) Mario loved movies and popcorn on the weekends, another favorite activity of his kids and grandkids. Mario often spoke with adoration about his beloved pet monkey he had as a child, as well as his love for family dogs, Muffin, Kendall, and Storm. He even claimed Melanie’s dog Logan as his own!
Mario was also an impeccable dresser. During his career as a surgeon, he loved to wear designer suits. Sundays were family days, attending church together and sharing conversation at fine dining French restaurants, steakhouses, and nouveau American restaurants.
Mario’s personal legacy lives on in the hearts and minds of his descendants: the positive character traits he demonstrated, such as integrity, honor, and quiet observation; his beliefs in hard work, education, and nurturing one’s career; his life lessons that actions speak more than words and that one should think about what they want to say before speaking; and his values of being polite to others, having good manners and putting family first above all else. Finally, his devotion, loyalty, and love for his wife, Lulu, was exemplary of a marriage based on unconditional love and effort.
Mario is preceded in death by his wife, Maria Lourdes Ortiz Feliciano; his parents, Josefa Constantino and Nicolas Feliciano, Sr.; his older granddaughter, Isabella Beatrice Pleyto Feliciano; his older brother, Nicolas Feliciano, Jr.; and Mario’s cousin and beloved nanny to his children, Zenaida “Nida” Baluyut.
He is survived by his daughter Melanie Feliciano; his son Michael Nicholas Feliciano and daughter-in-law Sylvia Feliciano, and step-grandchildren, Valerie Valles, Amanda Valles, and Kristian Valles, and step-great-granddaughters, Brielle Maldonado and Chloe Chittenden; his daughter Katrina Feliciano Stoddard, son-in-law Wade Stoddard, and grandchildren Amélie Julia Stoddard and Kieran Wade Stoddard; son Marc Lawrence Feliciano, daughter-in-law Carolyn Pleyto-Feliciano, and grandson Antonio Gabriel Feliciano y Pleyto; his sisters, Josefina Feliciano and Imelda Feliciano; and nephew Gerard Feliciano and niece Regina “Reena” Feliciano.
To those who wish to donate to a charity in Mario’s memory, his family would appreciate a donation to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. St. Jude, the patron saint of hope, impossible causes, and desperate situations, was Mario’s favorite saint.
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