1996 - Cultural connections


1996: Fides Neafie started as a fellow at the AFIP in 1996 hoping to study leprosy and return to the Philippines. “When I first met Ron, the first thing he says to me is, ‘Do you run?’ And I’ve never run in my life. I’ve never jogged in my life. And I’m like, no, I’m sorry, I don’t. But he encouraged me to go, because it was good for you. It’s healthy for you to go jogging. So we would jog.”

Their relationship continued to grow.

couple facing camera in front of flower wallpaper.
Image: courtesy Ron Neafie

Ron said: “I really had given up hope of getting married [again], but she’s a pathologist and we seemed to have a lot in common.” For their first date, they went to the Cherry Blossom Festival. “We walked all around and all the way down to Hains Point and back.” They were married in 2001.

History Project, Ronald Neafie, Fides Neafie, Chris Kelly: Full-Length Interview