Writer and Journalist Beth Day Romulo, Wife of Carlos P. Romulo, Has Passed Away

Beth Day Romulo, the widow of “The Great Diplomat” Carlos P. Romulo, has passed away. She was 98 years old. 

Born on May 25, 1924 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S.A., Beth was a writer and journalist. In 2015, Beth launched her autobiography, The Writer, the Lover and the Diplomat, which focused on her marriage with Carlos.

Prior to meeting Carlos, Beth had already carved a name for herself as an accomplished and well-known journalist. 

In a column for INQ, Ruel S. de Vera describes how they first met as married couples: 

“General Carlos P. Romulo and Beth Day Romulo were already individually famous when they met in 1957; she interviewed him for a Reader’s Digest article. Nothing romantic happened then; they were both married to other people and became good friends. But when they met again in 1972 , they were widower and widow, fell in love and married. But that’s just the beginning of a new story.”

During the book's launch in 2015, then-Consul General Mario de Leon Jr. succinctly described the relationship between Beth and Carlos—by comparing it with the U.S. Bases in the Philippines. 

“The negotiations over the bases were protracted just like the relationship between CPR and Beth Day Romulo. Unlike the U.S. bases, she came to stay in the Philippines even after he died.”

In 1993, during an interview with renowned Indian spiritual leader Sri Chinmoy, Beth recounts a familiar Filipino trait: 

"This country could very much use what you have to offer. I don't know if you are familiar with this, but there is a great tendency for people here not to work together or cooperate. They say if you have a basket of crabs and one reaches the top, the others pull him back down again. Here, too, when someone is doing a good job or becoming prominent in some endeavor, there is a tendency for people to attack him. I don't know how you overcome that."

Of course, she was talking about crab mentality. 

In 1977, the Baguio College Foundation awarded her with an honorary degree in humanities. The Philippine Women's University honored her with he same recognition two years prior in 1975. For many years since 1986, Beth served as a columnist and associate editor for the Manila Bulletin. 

Below are some of the old photos of Beth Day Romulo with her husband.