Visitation

Funeral Service

Ruthanne Jeffords

Derrell Bennett

Thompson Funeral Homes - Columbia

Maria Yamat

Edwards Memorial Funeral Homes - University Place

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Maria Alma Flores Yamat died surrounded by family on May 15, 2024, in Federal Way, Washington. She was 84.

Alma was born in Pampanga, Philippines, on April 27, 1940, to Bonifacia Cortez Mercado and Filemon P. Flores. She was the second of six children.

It was in her early 20s when Alma met her future husband, Tiburcio Yamat. She was a knockout, with high cheekbones and big, brown eyes. It’s no wonder they were married a year later, in 1965.

They became parents the following year with the birth of their first child, Maria Bernadette. Victor Manuel, Maria Luz, August and Ninoy soon followed, completing their family of seven.

Alma passed on her first name to both of her daughters, and the name was then passed on to one of her 11 granddaughters. (Yes, all granddaughters. And all headstrong, just like their Apu.)

She was a stay-at-home mom with a sharp mind and tongue, who showed her children tough love, taught them to be respectful of their elders and to accept whatever life brings. She wanted nothing more than to buy a plot of land and build a house for their family. So to save money, Alma always fed the kids eggs, vegetables that she harvested herself and fish from the fish farms where her husband worked. When it was time to eat, their youngest son, a toddler at the time, would always ask, “Where are my eggs?”

After their kids emigrated to the United States in the 1980s and 1990s, Alma and Tiburcio began splitting their time between the Philippines and the U.S., where they stayed with their kids and, later, would help care for their granddaughters.

Alma was preceded in death by her husband of 41 years.

Her granddaughters have fond memories of living with their Apu Inda. She used to take soap bars from the shower, leaving a mystery for them until they later found a stash of soap in her room. Sometimes she sprayed them with the hose while watering plants outside. She kept their bellies full with her delicious Kapampangan dishes that she covertly cooked with MSG, a secret she would have taken to her grave if not for one of the grandkids catching her in the act.

As her granddaughters grew up, Alma began to take a keen interest in their jewelry, makeup and new clothes. When she saw something she liked, she would point to it and say, “I want that.” And her granddaughters almost always relented. Recently, Alma had even tried to take a gold ring right off of one of their noses, even though her own nose wasn’t pierced. Then she laughed, using her hand to cover her big, gummy smile.

Alma’s dentures were notorious for falling out of her mouth when she laughed too hard (eventually she gave up on them completely.) She laughed a lot, especially later in life when her tough exterior had been softened by all her years.

Her laugh often accompanied a childlike curiosity for all the big and impressive things that the U.S. had to offer. She laughed at drive-thru car washes. At the bank, she would marvel at the long tubes that allowed us to pass cash to the teller from three car lanes away.

Never did she lose that childlike wonder, even after she became a U.S. citizen in 2015. A year before her death, Alma went on a road trip down the West Coast with one of her daughters, visiting California’s mission churches along the way. She mostly slept in the front passenger seat but when she was awake, Alma would sit up and stare out the windows, turn to her daughter and say in her native tongue, “Det, America is really big, isn’t it?” And they would laugh until she fell asleep again.

Despite her long stints living in the U.S. with each of her children, especially after her husband’s death in 2006, Alma always considered the Philippines her home. In the months leading up to her own death, she talked a lot about returning home to Masantol, Pampanga.

She is survived by her children and the in-laws she took on as her own: Manny and Sandra Yamat; Maria and Rodrigo Navarro; August and Marilyn Yamat; Ninoy Yamat and Windelyn Diolan; Bernadette Yamat; and Reynold Lacanlale. She also leaves behind granddaughters Rio, Maria Clarence, Vanessa, Rae, Chanon, Ashly, Christina, Cleo, Megan, Jaimelyn and Isabela, as well as her first and only grandson, Jeremy, who married into the family.

Weeks before she passed away, Alma celebrated her 84th birthday with all her kids and granddaughters and learned that she had a great-granddaughter on the way.

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Maria Yamat Obituary | Altogether