For Immediate Release – October 24, 2022
Contact: Ruben Salazar (630)379-9636
We would like to announce the passing of a legend and an icon in the Filipino community in the Greater Chicago Area. Estrella Ravelo Alamar died peacefully yesterday Sunday October 23. She recently celebrated her 86th Birthday last October 9 at the event celebrating “A Taste of Two Cultures: co-sponsored by the Chicago Cultural Alliance, the Polish Museum of America and the Filipino American Historical Society of Chicago.
Estrella Ravelo Alamar, is an all-American native, born on the westside of Chicago October 9, 1936, the oldest of four daughters. The Ravelo family established permanent residence in Hyde Park, Chicago, from 1940 to the present time. Over the years she has been recording her family history dating back to the Philippines, the birthplace of her parents.
She has pursued her deep interest in Filipino American history as founding president of the Filipino American Historical Society of Chicago (1986), a co-founder of the FAHSC Museum of Filipino American History and heritage (1999-2002). She was an active core member of the Chicago Cultural connections and the Chicago Cultural Alliance representing the FAHSC and the Filipino community for many years.
Estrella is also the co-founder of the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) Midwest Chapter and FANHS Greater Chicago Chapter. She has attended every FANHS Biennial Conference since 1988. With FANHS, she served as Vice President 1990-1992, trustee emerita, and 1992 Chair of the FANHS 4th Biennial Conference held in Chicago, IL . She is proud to be one of the recipients of the 1994 Bridge Generation Pinoy Award.
She retired from the Chicago Public Schools, teaching at the primary level for 30 years. Alamar the first American-born and woman president of the Nueva Vizcaya Association (the oldest Filipino association in Chicago that was established by her parents and their friends) She co-authored the Arcadia Publication, Filipinos in Chicago.
Her dedication to community service is reflected in her active participation in numerous Filipino American organizations and the Chicago Cultural Alliance partners and member institutions to the present time. She is a board member of the Hyde Park Historical Society and a member of the oral history committee. She was married to Justo O. Alamar for 18 years until his death in 1998.
Hyde Park Herald – Estrella Alamar Obituary
FANHS - GREATER CHICAGO CHAPTER 