Tribute to Dr. Luis F. Samson, Sr.-Chief Founder, First University President and First Chancellor

HUMBLE BEGINNING

Like everyone else, Daddy Luis has his own story to tell. It is a story of hope and optimism of overcoming one’s humble origin against gigantic odds which he wanted to be replicated by the youth of today. Daddy Luis came from a poor family. His father, Martin Samson was a carpenter while his mother, Maximina Fulgencio was a fish vendor. Daddy Luis was remembered to be a simple and quiet boy who valued education, at a time when education was considered immaterial to a person’s success.

He was a man of courage and determination. He fought against poverty to complete his education. First, he dreamt to be an engineer, a dream influenced by an uncle who was then the District Engineer of Dagupan But the cost of producing an engineer was too much for the family’s income so he was forced to stop schooling. Instead of giving up, he turned to his own strength.

Persistent as he was on the basis of his eligibility, my father was finally able to secure a job at the General Auditing Office in Manila in 1937. Realizing the high pay enjoyed by certified accountants in the office, he reevaluated his dream to become an engineer. It was then that he decided to take up Bachelor of Science in Commerce, major in Accounting at the Far Eastern University. Working during the day and attending classes at night, he was able to earn his degree in 1941.
Like everyone else, Daddy Luis has his own story to tell. It is a story of hope and optimism of overcoming one’s humble origin against gigantic odds which he wanted to be replicated by the youth of today. Daddy Luis came from a poor family. His father, Martin Samson was a carpenter while his mother, Maximina Fulgencio was a fish vendor. Daddy Luis was remembered to be a simple and quiet boy who valued education, at a time when education was considered immaterial to a person’s success.

THE NATIONALIST & PATRIOT

Dr. Luis was a nationalist – a patriot. He demonstrated his patriotism many times. When fate gave him the chance to prove his love for his country, he rose up to the challenge. A few months after taking and passing the CPA examination in 1941, he was commissioned Third Lieutenant in the Philippine Army and USAFFE and was assigned as Intelligence Officer of the 32nd Infantry, 31″ USAFFE division.

As a young officer, he participated in many battles, but the massive offensive and during the ensuing encounter, Daddy Luis received a bullet wound in the head. After receiving first aid, his comrades decided that he had a better chance of survival if left in the mountains of Bataan.

Sadly, most of his fellow soldiers were herded by the Japanese to join the infamous Death March where almost all of them did not survive.

While Daddy Luis was then listed as a casualty, his desire to survive was too great, even for death. With the help of peasants and sympathizers, he recovered and was able to escape to join the guerilla movement in Manila, and later in Pangasinan.

THE COMPLEAT EDUCATOR

After the conclusion of the nightmare that was World War II, together with his family and friends, Daddy Luis took to the task of helping rebuild a ruined community.

Believing that democracy cannot thrive in an atmosphere of Illiteracy and ignorance and believing further that education is the key in the recovery of the then fledging Philippine nation, knowing his own strengths, it was the academic community that he immediately joined.

He became an instructor of Accounting in the then Dagupan Colleges (now University of Pangasinan) in 1946, rising to the position of dean of the College of Commerce in a year’s time. It was his early exposure to the academe that gave him the knowledge and skills to concretize his dream of establishing a university in his lifetime.

So, in 1948, Daddy Luis gathered his friends, Basilio Fernandez, Servillano Romasanta, and the future first elected mayor of Dagupan City, Atty. Liberato Reyna, Sr. Together, they designed the blueprint of the then Luzon College of Commerce and Business Administra-tion. They endeavored with the zeal and energy to establish in this part of the country a system of educa-tion, genuinely Filipino, through the instrumentality of a private school. Inspired by Daddy Luis’ initiative, these pioneers in the field of education dared think of country and national ideals at a time when patriotism was not paid a high premium and love for truth and knowledge were not considered as virtues of considerable values. During that time, the blessings of education were practically beyond the reach of the masses as there were then very few schools, most of which were located in Manila.

Daddy Luis and his pioneering friends kept the torch of enlightenment burning in Norther Luzon. That powerful glow which was lit in 1948 contributed to the vanguard of a movement that was bound to grow and develop with the passing of years. LCCBA was renamed Luzon Colleges in 1952. From the initial enrolment of 243 as LCCBA, Luzon Colleges held as many as more than 16,000 students at the onset to the middle part of the 80’s.

Daddy Luis once confided to us, his children, that he was very much privileged to have reached a milestone of almost six decades of having been in a position of great trust and responsibility. First, as Chief Founder and First President of this great institution of higher learning from 1948 to 2005 and during the last year of his life, as its First Chancellor from 2005-2006. According to him: “It is more than what an ordinary mortal can ask for.”

Teaching has been for him the highest and most alluring occupation – a lifetime commitment and a high mission. He turned his back to the blandishment of three other attractive callings: law, politics and business, and
pursued with singleness of purpose – the vision of establishing a university – which vision was fulfilled in the University of Luzon of today – which will stand forever as one of his legacies to the youth of Pangasinan, Region I and beyond.

Indeed, Daddy Luis lived a truly abundant and meaningful life. We, the members of his family, can feel in the innermost chamber of our hearts as well as in the most minute fibers of our being that Daddy Luis died – fulfilled and contented.

Daddy Luis, we will surely miss you – your voice will not remain to be an echo of the past. We will forever relive and relish your loving memory. Your smiling face will forever be etched in our hearts and your laughters will always reverberate in our ears.

We wish you to live to a hundred or more years. But alas, wishing cannot, will not and will never make it so.

We are, however, consoled by the fact that it is in dying that one is born to eternal life for death is an eternal progression. Now, we are very sure, that Mamang will never be alone, as you have rejoined her in God’s loving embrace.

For and on behalf of the Samson family, we thank you very sincerely from the bottom of our hearts for joining us tonight in honoring Daddy Luis as we bid him adieu in his journey to the Great Beyond, where sadly no traveler ever returns!

Daddy Luis, you have heard our voices, you have felt our sorrows, and our unending profession of love. Now that you are in God’s Kingdom – we know deep in our hearts that you will be constantly praying for us all whom you have left behind.


Dr. Aurora M. Samson-Reyna
Vice President for Academic Affairs

Note: Dr. Luis F. Samson, Sr. also served as the first dean of the College of Liberal Arts. He died last March 28, 2006 at the age of 89.

This tribute was delivered in a speech by Dr. Aurora Samson-Reyna during the necrological services for Dr. Luis Samson and was first published for the souvenir program of the First College of Liberal Arts Grand Alumni Homecoming.