High hopes
As far as is known, neither woman left behind a note to reveal why she felt suicide was the only option. What is certain is that both arrived in this country with expectations for brighter futures.
Economics impelled them to leave their families, bound, eventually, for Baltimore. They enlisted in international programs that recruit "highly qualified" teachers into American school districts with shortages.
FOR THE RECORD - A photo caption accompanying an article in Sunday's editions about the suicides of two Filipino teachers misidentified the source of the photo. All photos of Irenea Apao were taken by Manny Lopez.
The Sun regrets the error.
With its high poverty and a surplus of English-speaking teachers, the Philippines is fertile ground for recruits.
Bolado was in the first crop of 58 Filipino teachers brought to Baltimore in the summer of 2005. Since then, their numbers have grown every year.
Bolado was the baby of her group, just 24 at the time she arrived, an honors graduate of the University of the Philippines.
Her mother had been working in Hong Kong as a domestic helper to support the family. She was able to return home when Bolado, striking for her drive and desire to excel, accepted a high-paying job in the United States.
During that first school year, at least, she was very much a part of Baltimore's community for Filipino teachers.
She lived alongside dozens of her countrymen at the Symphony Center apartment building near the Meyerhoff, sharing a fifth-floor unit with three Filipino roommates. She liked to dance and to shop at Old Navy.
She was also selected to be followed by a Filipino-American documentary maker chronicling the experiences of Filipino teachers in Baltimore.
Troubled marriage
Bolado worked at Thurgood Marshall Middle, a challenging Northeast Baltimore school that she and the other Filipino teachers there jokingly called "Thurbest."
Despite the culture shock of encountering insubordinate children, she thrived professionally and was beloved by her students, according to colleagues and school administrators. In addition to her regular load of math classes, she taught a weekly science class for gifted students, lugging loads of materials to school for projects such as making ice cream.
"Fe was amazing," said George Duque, the school system's director of staffing and certification. "I remember her saying, `Adding and subtracting is not math. Thinking is math.'"
Outside school, much of Bolado's life revolved around a troubled relationship with a boyfriend back in the Philippines whom her family never liked, her friends said.
