Norlita Ma. B. Agrazada – we called her Norlie – was a radio-TV journalist affiliated with the old KBS (Kanlaon Broadcasting Studios) whose operations included what was simply known then as Channel 9, “The Leader.” As executive producer, writer and director working behind the cameras, she was high-strung, a chain smoker forever chasing after reporters and deadlines.
Back in those days, journalists — reporters, editors, producers —like her who were not on-air personalities were not famous for their fashion sense but for their do-or-die attitude where getting the scoop was all that mattered.
If I am sounding nostalgic, it is because Norlie is no longer with us, having joined her Creator last Monday, the second day of March. But even before that happened, she had quit the game one or two generations of broadcasters ago. Back then, she was a news writer who later became executive producer of the TV show that I hosted for many years. Her colleagues at the time are no longer around, either, having preceded her to the Great Beyond, including Jun Medina, Frank Abao, Edwin Fargas. TV has changed in many ways, though not so much the news as it is now presented.
To miss Norlie, then, is to miss the good and the bad old days. After she fell gravely ill some days ago and the hospital advised her daughter to take Norlie home for palliative care, the unspoken words said enough.
For Jennifer A. Schreiner, Norlie’s daughter (only child of an only child) who works in logistics for an IT company in Germany and whose family includes a dog and a cat, tying up the loose ends after her mother’s demise is a lonely job, with no siblings on her nor her mother’s side to help her. After many years abroad, coming back to the land of her mother’s birth to wind down her affairs has been a strange experience, no siblings, no cousins, aunts or uncles to help her navigate such a lonely and lonesome landscape. Foremost among Jenn’s self-imposed assignments is to find a buyer for her mother’s house, located somewhere between Quezon City and Mandaluyong.
“Then it would be great if I could return to Germany right away,” she sighed. I can sympathize with her.
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