Dr. Saturnina Mercado, known to many as Nina, passed away peacefully on the evening of Dec. 2, 2022, at the age of 88 surrounded by her children. She was born on Nov. 28, 1934, in Bacoor, a city in the province of Cavite in the Philippines, the oldest of five children.
She is predeceased by her parents, Severino and Adriana De Leon, her sisters Theodora and Benita, and her beloved husband of 57 years, Dr. Gregorio Mercado.
Nina is survived by her four children – Michael (Ellen), Marita Grace (Anthony Juliano), Gilbert (Nancy), and Greg Jr.
(Rosalyn) her nine grandchildren, and her two brothers Juanito and Eugenio.
Dr. Nina Mercado earned her MD from Manila Central University in 1958 and initially specialized in obstetrics and gynecology. Nina started her career on staff primarily at Pasay-Paranaque hospital and Marian General Hospital in Quezon City. She eventually opened her own family practice clinic in Baclaran, a neighborhood in metro-Manila, near where she lived. Dr.
Mercado also had a clinic with a separate entrance in her family home.
Due to the unstable political situation in the Philippines in the early 1970s, Nina made the difficult decision to emigrate her entire family to the United States in the summer of 1973. With the help of Gus and Ethel Mercado, who had emigrated to New York City ahead of her, Nina and her family settled in the borough of Queens and worked in a medical capacity at the Daughters of Jacob Geriatric Center in the Bronx.
Dr. Mercado learned to use the subway to go to work.
After coming home and taking care of her family, she would often study her medical books as she needed to pass exams to be recertified to practice medicine in the U.S. as a foreign medical graduate. She passed those necessary exams in Vermont and Florida and was finally eligible to legally practice in the U.S.
She then uprooted her family in early 1977 to become the only full-time medical doctor for three sparsely populated counties in western Nebraska, settling in the village of Mullen. Dr. Mercado made many friends and enjoyed the hospitality of the residents in Mullen.
Eventually, the long, harsh Nebraska winters plus a yearning to be near her extended family convinced Nina to move her family to southern California in the summer of 1980. Nina’s mother Adriana (affectionately known as Lola Dyanang) was even able to come from the Philippines and live with the family for several years.
Nina started her private practice in 1981 with clinics in Bellflower and Norwalk. She began developing a devoted patient base not just with her dedication and medical skills but also with her kindness, compassion and humility. She delivered thousands of babies in the 30-plus years that she ran her clinic, many of which arrived in the middle of the night.
For more than 10 years, on a Saturday close to her Nov.
28 birthday, she would host a catered birthday party at the roped-off clinic parking lot.
The party was not for her, but for all the children that she had brought into this world along with their parents. Children’s entertainment was also provided. She was ecstatic to see her “kids,” some of whom had grown up to be teenagers by the time the last party was held. In fact, she’s delivered a few children to mothers that she delivered back in the 1980s.
Dr. Nina Mercado was an extremely dedicated professional who was still making rounds on weekends to check on her patients at local hospitals well into her early 80s. Dr. Mercado retired in 2021.
Dr. Mercado was also a devoted wife, mother and grandmother. She took care of her husband Greg after he suffered multiple strokes and was bedridden until he passed in June 2016. Nina loved her children, but she didn’t spoil them. She also doted on her nine grandchildren, ages now ranging from 9 to 29, especially when they were very young.
Nina also provided for her nieces’ and nephews’ higher education in the Philippines and was proud of their achievements. Nina also loved getting together with the many members of her extended family that lived here in southern California especially during the holiday seasons.
It was always convenient that her relatives could visit her for medical advice or additional care, if needed.
Nina didn’t travel much except to Lourdes in France on a Catholic pilgrimage, a few trips to the Philippines to visit her brothers and sisters, and a handful of Vegas trips with her relatives. She was content to be at home and stayed committed to her patients and clinic staff.
Nina loved animals and enjoyed tending to her garden.
Her large yard allowed for fruit trees like pomegranates, mandarin oranges, persimmons, lemons, mangoes, cherimoyas, plantains, and many others as well as roses and other flower bushes to flourish. She spent many hours watering, pruning, and harvesting the literal fruits of her labor, then sharing them with her children, her relatives, and her clinic staff.
When Nina lost her beloved dog King, she took care of the many stray cats that gravitated to her yard. She nursed a two-day old kitten with black spots that she affectionately named “Pandy’’ as the cat’s fur reminded her of a panda.
Pandy became her protector and constant companion but is currently out of sorts without her.
Dr. Nina Mercado was a devout Catholic who prayed frequently on the kneeler in her living room to the shrine of the Lady of Lourdes that she had imported from France. She gave to several Catholic and humanitarian charities including Red Cross, Sloan Kettering, Doctors Without Borders, EWTN, Children’s Hospital Of Los Angles, Braille Society and many more.
Dr. Nina Mercado lived an exemplary life of duty, kindness, compassion and humility. She will be greatly missed by all who knew her.