Rose Eileen Flores Tibayan (1960-2024)
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Rose Tibayan, wife of CFL Secretary-Treasurer Don Villar.
Services will be held for Rose on Saturday, July 20 at Old St. Patrick’s Catholic Church (700 W. Adams St. Chicago, IL). Visitation will begin at 9:30 a.m., followed by Funeral Mass at 10:30 a.m.
Rose asked that In lieu of flowers, donations be made to the groups she cared so much about – the Asian American Journalists Association, the Rizal Center of Chicago, or the Anti-Cruelty Society of Chicago.
Rose Eileen Flores Tibayan passed away on June 20, 2024, peacefully at her home in Galena, surrounded by her family. She died after a courageous 14-month long battle with cancer.
Rose was the Director of Public Affairs for the City of Chicago’s Department of Budget, Management and Finance under former Mayor Lori Lightfoot. Before falling ill in April 2023, she was looking forward to working with incoming Mayor Brandon Johnson.
While Rose considered herself an East Coast girl, growing up in Newark, Delaware, and then going to school and starting her career in New York City, she would fall in love with Chicago and find love in the Windy City. She moved to the Midwest more than 20 years ago to be with her husband, Don V. Villar, Secretary Treasurer of the Chicago Federation of Labor. They had met in their previous lives – Rose, a former television news reporter, and Don, a former TV news writer/producer at WLS-TV ABC7 Chicago. The couple, and their beloved calico Pumpkin, are longtime residents of the West Loop.
Rose began her TV career as a page at NBC’s Rockefeller Plaza. She moved up to become a news assistant at NBC Nightly News. Rose credits a conversation with TV news legend Connie Chung for inspiring and encouraging her to become a reporter. Rose would go on to cover the news at TV stations in Guam, Fort Myers (FL), New Jersey, Philadelphia (PA), San Francisco (CA), and Milwaukee (WI). Highlights of her news career include covering the U.S. military in Guam and during the War in Afghanistan, and interviewing Imelda Marcos, the wife of Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
Rose was also a published author. She wrote Resume Tape Book to help other aspiring TV journalists navigate the news industry. The 400-page book has helped scores of TV journalists in their careers. In her post TV news career, Rose worked in corporate communications. She also had an entrepreneurial spirit. She started Blackline Review, a digital media company covering startups. At Blackline Review, six of her stories won Telly Awards.
Those who met Rose were struck by her glowing beauty and generous heart. Rose competed in beauty pageants in her youth. She was Miss Teen cover girl and Miss Philippine’s USA. She also competed in the Mrs. International Beauty Pageant in 2014 where she won the popularity crown.
Rose was very active in her community. In 2009, she organized a series of candlelight vigils in Chicago for two American journalists detained by North Korea. Two weeks after the very last candlelight vigil where Reverend Jesse Jackson led the call for the release of the two journalists and appealed to President Barack Obama, the North Korean government released Laure Ling and Euna Lee.
Rose was deeply concerned about women’s issues. She started a foundation, the Sampaguita Group, to raise college scholarships for young Filipino women. She volunteered her time and skills to the Rizal Center, Chicago’s Filipino American Community Center, where she helped create the website and organized the children’s craft fairs and fundraising events. Following the 2014 devastation of typhoon Hayan in the Philippines, Rose helped organize relief effort at the center for the typhoon victims. Among the survivors were her mother-in-law and father-in-law. They were in the Philippines when the most powerful storm to ever make landfall in history passed over them. Rose was a volunteer co-curator of the Philippine collection at the Field Museum. The museum has the largest collection of Philippine artifacts outside of the Philippines.
During her battle with cancer, Rose and Don would spend their weekends at their home in Galena. After undergoing chemo at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, she longed to be surrounded by the peace and tranquility of Galena. There, she would take walks with her husband or just sit on her patio, surrounded by nature and wildlife. It was a welcome, therapeutic respite.
Rose was also an animal lover. She’s had eight beloved cats throughout her life. Her platform at the Mrs. International pageant was in support of animal shelters. She was a member of the Asian American Journalists Association, where she met her husband. She helped advocate and raise funds for the Hydrocephalus Foundation, in memory of her father Manuel Tibayan. It was only after Rose and her husband cared for him in their home during the final months of his life that he was diagnosed with disease.
Rose had a love for fashion. She attended the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City for two years. She would then go on to the University of Delaware where she graduated with an English degree. She received a master’s degree in journalism from the Columbia University of New York City.
In one of the final recognitions for her selfless work for others, Rose was celebrated at the 2023 Chicago Labor Day Parade. She was named the Grand Marshall of the parade.
Rose was preceded in death by her mother, Leticia Flores Tibayan, and father, Manuel Ilagan Tibayan. She leaves behind her husband, Don, her sisters Rowin Windle-Couve and Raelynn Remy, their husbands Jerome Couve and Mitch Remy, and four nephews, Matt Windle, Luke Remy, Sam Remy & Christian Couve.
