Obituary, Visitation & Funeral Information

This is not a traditional obituary. I’m writing about my mother.

I’m sorry. Not because my mother died, I recognize that she was up there in years and that we all have our time; although it is SO much more painful than I expected, and that’s saying a lot. I’m sorry for a different reason.

Elvia Margarita Ferrer Sierra was born in the city of Banes, Province of Oriente, Cuba, on January 26, 1930, to parents Enrique Sierra and Francisca (Paquita) Sierra. She eventually moved to Havana and worked as an executive secretary at Crusellas, a manufacturer of candles, soaps and other toiletries, until fleeing to Miami to escape Castro’s communist regime. She arrived in Miami on August 1, 1961 with her family which included her husband at the time, Eliseo Ferrer, her mother in law, Marina Murillo, her parents and her three children Antonio (age 9), Eduardo (age 2) and Alejandro (age 10 months)—or Tony, Eddy and Alex as they later became known.

Although starting a new life in America was difficult, Elvia was fortunate that she had learned English in Cuba so she was immediately hired by an attorney in downtown Miami. Not long after that, however, she began working in the airline industry at Equatoriana de Aviacion and Aeromexico, the flag carrier airlines of Equador and Mexico. She eventually gravitated towards the healthcare field, working as an executive assistant at International Medical Centers (IMC) and Humana until retiring at the age of 82.

Sadly, Elvia’s life had some considerable difficulties. She lost her two oldest children, Tony at age 23 to juvenile diabetes and Eddie at age 28 to cancer. Through most of her life she also suffered from rheumatoid arthritis which caused her debilitating pain and loss of considerable function of her hands and feet.

But that’s not why I’m sorry. Despite all that adversity, she was the most upbeat, friendly, giving and likeable person you could ever meet. She never had an unkind word to say about anyone and everyone enjoyed being around her.

Although for many years I encouraged and pleaded with her to stop working, she loved her co-workers at Humana too much and would not consider quitting—and they loved her too much to force her to do so. She was a precious gem; that extremely rare person who everybody likes. And her grandchildren (Daniel, Kristen and Taylor), her daughters-in-law (Jane and Lourdes) and I were so blessed that she was our mother, our grandmother and our mother-in-law. She deeply loved our family and was proud of every one of us.

So that is why I’m sorry. Not because we lost her, although that makes me incredibly, incredibly sad—I’m thrilled we had her in our lives at all. I’m sorry for those of you who never met her. You’ll never know what you missed.

God's Garden

God looked around his garden
And found an empty place.
He then looked down upon the earth
And saw your tired face.
He put his arms around you
And lifted you to rest.
God’s garden must be beautiful
He always takes the best.
He knew that you were suffering
He knew you were in pain.
He knew that you would never
Get well on Earth again.
He saw the road was getting rough
And the hills were hard to climb.
So he closed your weary eyelids
And whispered, “Peace be thine”.
It broke our hearts to lose you
But you didn’t go alone.
For part of us went with you
The day God called you home

The family requests that in lieu of flowers charitable contributions be made to the Arthritis National Research Foundation at http://www.curearthritis.org/take-action/

What’s your fondest memory of ELVIA?

What’s a lesson you learned from ELVIA?

Share a story where ELVIA's kindness touched your heart.

Describe a day with ELVIA you’ll never forget.

How did ELVIA make you smile?