My mother was born in my grandparents’ finca in Casimba Arriba, Cuba on July 7, 1922. She almost died of Typhoid fever when she was 10. Priest even came and gave her last rites, but her mother, Socorro (Spanish for help), would not give up on her. Must be from her that my mother got her stubbornness! It was a miracle that she survived.

Mama met my father in Guantanamo during "el paseo" (on Sundays the women would walk one way in an inner circle while men walked other way on the outside) in the main square while he was working at the Naval base there (in 1943) and Mama was living with her sister Carmen in Guantanamo. My mother’s family did not approve of the “city slicker” (from Habana) marrying her. Don’t forget that my mother was a “guajira Guantanamera”. Only her brother, Manolo, came to their wedding on Feb. 5, 1945.

My mother was a housewife and rather shy in Cuba, but when we came to US, she had to start working. At St. Mary’s hospital she made many friends and found self-confidence. She even learned how to drive, write checks, etc. In other words, she blossomed into the more extrovert, confident, stubborn woman we all loved!

Food was love for her and my father was her perfect partner in that he loved to eat! She became a great cook, although my Tia Angela told me that she only learned after getting married! She would prepare huge meals not only for us, family and her friends but also my friends and colleagues. Anyone who asked for seconds, thirds, etc. entered her pantheon of champion eaters. I, like my cousin Erin, tried to learn her recipes by “shadowing” her while she cooked. Nothing was written down; they were all in her elephant-like memory. What I discovered was that she cooked by tasting everything all the time. This explained why she never sat with my friends to eat her enormous, delicious meals. She was already full from all her tastings!

We will all miss her, but, hopefully, she is now reunited with Papa and the rest of her family and friends. She was the crown jewel of her generation. There will never be another "Bula:, as our kids called her!