Saturday, May 26, 2018
This aptly applies to Ilia: She loved strong, and her love lives on. We briefly mourn her passing away, but then we celebrate the life of an incredible woman. We will never forget her; we will think of her every day. We learned so much from her.
When Tito lost his mother, Ilia’s younger sister at the tender age of eight, he went to live with Ilia. Thus began a long relationship made stronger with the passage of time. She was, for all intents and purposes, his mother. They had long conversations weekly, if only by phone.
The day (early 1984) she and Jean met Joselyn they fell in love with her, and she with them. Jean came to call her his “Number One.” Then he announced that from that day forward he was her Grandpa Jean and Ilia concurred but added she would be Titi Ilia as she was “too young to be called Grandma.”
In 1985 Sonia was born and Ilia and Jean came to meet her. When she was barely two months old Ilia and Jean babysat her while Tito and I went to New York City where my brother was getting married and Joselyn was the flower girl. They were thrilled with the experience. It was the beginning of a long and loving relationship. Sonia was even closer to Ilia and Jean than the others When Ernestito was born, they made the trip to meet their third “grandchild.”
We would for more than 20 years regularly spend weekends, holidays, and staycations with them. Ilia loved to prepare breakfast, lunch, and dinner for us, and it was fun to help her. She had a way of making simple occasions elegant, grand and special. She made them family affairs and we loved doing it with her. She took all these occasions to have lengthy conversations with us and also used these occasions and to share, and teach through, all her life experiences and further used these occasions to teach lessons. She called for us every time she returned from a trip—Africa, Hong Kong/China, Portugal, New Zealand/Australia, Peru, the Galápagos, Alaska, etc. because she brought special souvenirs and shared what she saw and experienced. She purchased Where’s Waldo books, games, etc. for my children to have when they stayed there. She patiently sat with them as they looked for Waldo, read with them, played Rummicube, Yahtzee, card games and dominoes with them. She often took them to Turtleback Zoo and to the park to feed the ducks and geese. Ilia loved going to New York, and we took trips there together—shows at Radio City Music Hall, Metropolitan Museo of Art, etc. Ilia loved to shop—the Short Hills Mall was a favorite. Ilia and Jean celebrated many of our anniversaries with us in very special and unforgettable ways.
We met the entire circle of friends—the Drills, Krasners, Manischewitz, Meiers, Graysons, Hills, the Friends, Wassermans, Schteirs, Krups, and so many others. I will never forget all the annual dinner parties and other memorayevents that included all these fine people. Ilia loved them all, and they loved her. She wanted them all to meet us and they did. Most of them are gone, we think of them often as they all took the time to see us whenever we were there.
There are too many memories to list. And now our Titi Ilia who has been much more than an aunt to Tito, Joselyn, Sonia, and Ernesto II. For Tito she was his “mother” for he lost his mother. Ilia took him in; he lived with her until his high school years but their relationship remained very close until Ilia’s death. She left us with cherished memories more valuable than anything and which no one can ever take from us. She has gone to sleep. Sleep well, dear Ilia.
Moreover, brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who are sleeping in death, so that you may not sorrow as the rest do who have no hope.—1 Thessalonians 4:13
And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore.—Revelation 21:4
