Nycthia O M Prieto

Nycthia Ophelia Magbanua ("Nikki" or "Ny") was born in 1941 in the city of Dingle in the Philippines to school teacher and administrator Remedios, and lawyer Bernardino. The family relocated to nearby Pototan, but with the Japanese occupation in 1942, they retreated to a thatched hut on their family farm from which they could easily flee into the hills for safety. Tenants on the farm called little Nikki "Ama" which translates into "our mistress," a testament to her personality and demeanor beyond a toddler's years. At the age of six, she applied her verbal gifts to the art of declamation, a structured form of public speaking, in which she competed and excelled through high school. She also sang in school choirs and completed high school early at age 15 with highest honors. Nikki started college at the University of the Philippines, Iloilo City (UPIC), where she entered a 2-year pre-nursing program before attending the St. Paul's Hospital School of Nursing. Upon graduation at the top of her class at the age of 19, however, she was prevented from sitting for her boards, which required that she be 21. Happily, the destruction of public documents during the Japanese occupation and a lawyer father with ambitions for his first-born, resulted in the appearance of documents establishing 1939 as her official birth date. Nikki then accepted a position in Lourdes Hospital, Manila as a neonatal nurse (the director had concerns that she looked too young to be taken seriously by adult patients). In 1963, the 22-year old Nikki bought her plane ticket to work in the U.S. through a nurse exchange program, and returned home just weeks before departure to tell her family of her plans. As Nikki left her home country, she gave her parents her savings to help pay for the education of her two younger brothers Rene and Michael. On arrival to the U.S., Nikki shared an apartment with five other nurses at Newark City Hospital (now UMDNJ Medical School, where her daughter graduated 39 years later). Within the first year, she met Daniel C. Prieto, Jr. M.D., a surgical resident and the older brother of her best friend from UPIC. In the time they were dating, Nikki won a local beauty contest (crowned "Miss Kayumanggi") but was forced to move to Kingston, Canada in 1965 when her visa expired. Dan, however, at the cost of sleep and his beloved 1965 Mustang, drove to Canada regularly to visit. Nikki returned to New York City, and in 1966, Nikki and Dan were married in a small ceremony in Westchester, NY. Nikki raised her three children with dedication and a firm hand in CT, NY and MD, before settling in Northern Virginia around 1974. Nearly ten years later, she was accepted to Georgetown University Law School, but opted to obtain her real estate license instead, to give her more flexibility for her children. She had great success as a realtor, and made many close friends in the field. Always wanting to travel, Nikki took on a second job as a United Airlines reservations agent in the mid-1990s. She worked for nearly 10 years, making excellent use of her flight benefits to weekend in Paris with her beloved husband Dan, or to roam the malls in Dubai with her girlfriends. Nikki will always be loved for lighting up a room with her elegant demeanor, and huge but demure personality. She made strangers feel like special friends with her vivacious charm and twinkling eyes. Like her husband "Dapper Dan," Nikki was always the one to beat on the fashion front, with mini-dresses in the 60s, patchwork jeans in the 90s, and the most regal of formal gowns. In the home (hers or anyone else's) Nikki was unstoppable, creating organization out of chaos, and cleaning crevices that one would never have known were dirty. Her energy was boundless, her desire to help both friends and strangers alike had a familiar urgency, and her generosity with time and gifts was unmatched. In an era of texts and emails, Nikki never stopped making personal phone calls, as many as a dozen a day, constantly expanding and maintaining her circle of friends. She was a self-taught expert in luxury goods from German porcelains to Persian carpets, yet an avid collector of made-in-China fake handbags. She gloried in wedding planning -- she would lend a hand to any wedding she could -- and setting a holiday table, always with her latest thrift-store finds. She knew every Rodgers and Hammerstein love song by heart and loved Pat Boone, Judy Garland, and Chopin. She had a passion for world travel, antiques, trading stocks, and the blackjack table, and a taste for game shows, movie nights, salty snacks and Patron tequila. She made the meanest Filipino breakfast this side of Manila, and always treated her visiting children with the comfort foods of their youth. She was the fiercest of tiger mothers, and for that her children Nerissa, Dan and Dave are eternally grateful. She was the kindest of grandmothers to Paris, Segen, Simon and Delphine. Her generosity and concern for her brothers Rene and Michael, and for her surviving mother Remedios, were evident daily. Her friends were her life, her support and her sanity. For all this we are grateful. Nikki you are an exceptionally beautiful woman, taken from this world too soon by an exceptionally bizarre disease. You have forever changed everyone you've touched, and it is with sadness that that we lose you from this world, and with joy that we look forward to your being the life of the party again when we all join you in the next. Viewings and eulogies Friday, November 6 at Pierce Funeral Home, 9609 Center St, Manassas, VA, 2-4pm and 7-9pm. Donations (supporting educational initiatives in Nikki's home province) and flowers may be delivered by calling (703) 257-6028. Funeral mass will be held in Nikki's honor on Saturday, November 7 at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Gainesville, VA, followed by closed reception. Kindly RSVP by text to (732) 322-3260. We welcome all friends and family to submit online condolences on Nikki Prieto’s Facebook page.

Nycthia O M Prieto

June 27, 1939 - November 1, 2015