Cristeta Petrey, 101; Dance Instructor

Cristeta Lamadrid Petrey, 101, an instructor of modern dance and classical Spanish dancing, died of congestive heart failure Oct. 3 at Carroll Manor Nursing Home in Washington.

Mrs. Petrey loved to dance, and even in her 80s, she conducted classes at embassies and in her apartment. Described by her relatives as a fireball and a dynamo, she was still dancing in her 90s whenever the mood struck her.

"She loved people, she thrived on people and she dreaded being alone," said a cousin, Corazon M. Siddayao.

Mrs. Petrey was woman of definite opinions, but "when you're 100 years old, if you want a particular kind of sardines, you have a right to those kinds of sardines," said a grandniece, Liesl Hepp.

She was born Cristeta Laddaran Lamadrid in Aparri, in the Philippine province of Cagayan. She took culinary and sewing lessons in her youth, and published a book, "The Secrets of Dressmaking -- Combination Method."

At 17, she married Col. Leon Angeles, a member of the Philippine Constabulary, who was taken captive by the Japanese during World War II and survived the Bataan Death March. He and the couple's two sons, Jose and Ferino Angeles, all died during the Battle for the Liberation of Manila in 1945, as the Japanese made a last stand in the southern part of the city.

She was hiding in the trees during the battle and saw Filipinos shot, possibly including her sons, she told Hepp. The trauma of that experience, combined with the shelling of the city, left her distraught. She moved to Spain, where she spent some time tracing her ancestry. In 1948, she received permanent resident status in the United States through special legislation supported by the American Legion.

After settling in Washington, she was advised by her physician to take up dancing to overcome her depression. By now middle-aged, she took to dancing with gusto and became an instructor. She met Frank Petrey, a fellow instructor, at the Arthur Murray Dance Studio in the District, and they married in 1951. He died in 1968.

In her 80s, after a vase fell on her foot while she was teaching dance, she used workers' compensation funds to take paralegal courses at George Washington University. The classwork fascinated her, and she told Siddayao that she intended to become a paralegal to help senior citizens fight for their rights. Illness prevented her from making good on that intention.

She volunteered for numerous activities at her church, the Shrine of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Washington, and she became what is now called a Lay Carmelite. She paid for the construction of a church in Cheppad, India, and with others, she funded the education of seminarians in the United States and the construction of a church in Cotabato City in the Philippines.

She leaves no immediate survivors.