Santa Maria Zkiab's Obituary
Santa Maria Zkiab was born in Baltimore Maryland and moved to Miami Florida as a teenager with her three sisters Rosaria (Rose) Buttacavoli, Francesca (Frances) Shaheen, Concetta (Tina) Feria and her parents Rosario and Sadie Calabrese. As an adult, my mother worked for the Miami News as a typesetter and helped to develop a process that was used in printing the paper for years. My mother dedicated her life to serving the poorest of the poor and had unshakable faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
She went door to door many years ago collecting donations to help build Corpus Christi Catholic Church in the NW section of Miami. She later married my dad there, enrolled me in their school, and I received all of the sacraments of the Catholic Church at Corpus Christi. She volunteered for over 40 years with Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity feeding the hungry, clothing the needy, and sheltering women & children from the streets of Miami. She drove into Miami’s most dangerous neighborhoods to serve, clothe, and feed the poor. That was her calling, her joy. She was the smartest woman I had ever met, and as one of my cousins stated, her superior intellect was sometimes masked by intense emotions. It is said that we learn how to love from our mothers. If that is true, she taught me well and did her job here on earth. Now she joins my dad “her sweetheart” in Heaven, and we all gained another angel. Mom, I hope you are pleased & proud of the care that Raquel & I gave you after daddy’s passing. We did our best and gave you our all. We did everything you would have wanted us to do to send you straight into Jesus’s arms. I’m so happy we had our private time together for some closure. I will always remember what you told me when I was little girl. You said “ Be kind & say hello to all you pass & meet. You may be the only person that acknowledges them that day”.
Santa Maria Zkiab is survived by her daughter Judi, her “adopted”
daughter Raquel, her sisters Rose, Frances, and Tina, her brother in law Ciro, many nieces & nephews & other loving family members.
I will love you until I take my last breath.
Your loving daughter Judi ❤️
In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting donations be made in Santa Maria's memory to: THE MISSIONARIES OF CHARITY OF MOTHER TERESA, 727 N.W. 17th Street, Miami, FL. 33136
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