Obituaries

Legaspi Maylad Punsalan was born in Tarlac City, Philippines on October 14th in either 1937 or 1938. We're not entirely sure because his birth certificate was destroyed in a courthouse fire during WWII. For the same reason, his name was also hotly debated. Legally known as Legaspi, his mother swears she named him Romeo, while his wife only called him Peping. We called him dad.

Legaspi grew up on dirt floors, in a shanty with corrugated metal walls that would get so hot in the summer they'd burn your skin if you touched them. As a small boy during WWII, Legaspi rode carabao to haul and help earn money for the family. From playing in bomb craters to running from Japanese soldiers, to begging U.S. G.I.'s for leftover food, young Legaspi Punsalan was lucky to survive. He went through garbage behind movie theaters to find loose film strips so he could shine a flashlight through them and charge friends a peso to see the images. He was a pinsetter at the local bowling alley, where he would intentionally knock down additional pins for women he knew were on a date.

He showed promise as a student, so his family pooled their money to send him to college and medical school. For his residency, he moved to the United States by throwing a dart in a map and chose Toledo, Ohio - mistakenly presuming it was a massive metropolis like New York City.

An anesthesiologist of 40 plus years, he never lost a patient on the operating table, but always said he wished his job was telling people how good or bad their movies or music was, particularly if it wasn't Perry Como or Anne Murray. Always a critic, Legaspi Punsalan's opinions were miraculously never wrong.

Legaspi married Marcia Shirley Weintraub in 1966. When his wife lost 180lbs and started a 20 year teaching career at the age of 50, after raising 5 children, Legaspi was so proud that he asked the Toledo Blade to write an article about her, and they did. Always in frayed Dickies pants & cracked rubber flip-flops, his childhood rooted him in humility, and when you walked by him on the street, you would have never guessed he was a physician. He rocked bass guitar on stage and crooned at weddings. He loved bowling and Chinese buffets. And when he wasn't betting with his children, he was teaching them how to play blackjack.

Alzheimer's may have taken memories, but it never took his sense of humor. Legaspi Punsalan was the funniest Filipino immigrant turned doctor and incredible father of 5, grandfather of 12, and husband of 52 years, who ever lived.

From dirt floors in the Philippines to now having children and grandchildren who have the ability to work as singers, musicians, filmmakers or whatever they want to be, his hard work and sacrifice changed the trajectory of an entire family and countless children who will follow him. He mattered, we love him dearly, and his progeny will work as hard as possible to honor his memory.

Visitation will be 4 p.m. – 8 p.m. on Monday, November 13, 2023 at Walker Funeral Home (419-691-6768) 3500 Navarre Avenue, Oregon, OH. Funeral services will be held on November 14, 2023 at the funeral home at 9:00 a.m. Burial will follow at St. Ignatius Cemetery.

The family asks all condolences be offered in the form of a donation to the Dr. Legaspi & Marcia Punsalan Memorial Scholarship to help Clay High School Seniors achieve post-secondary education. Contributions can be made at: https://gofund.me/00bf4559