Christiana Maria Baudinat

Mother was born in Uberlandia, a city in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil in February twenty seven in 1941. She had a sister Cidinha who is here today and has been always present in my mother´s life. Their friendship grew stronger and they grew older and I would like to thank her for coming from Brazil on a heart bit every time we went through a crises, and of course on happier times too. She also had a brother named Raul. On the maternity award she met her first great friend Maria Lucia. They used to joke that they were friends from the womb, since her mothers were friends when they were pregnant. They remained great friends throughout her life, 76 years of friendship. My mom´s mother Meri de Castro was the daughter of the two doctors of the city and was brought up with many opportunities not common at that time. She was an excellent pianist and also spoke French fluently. She was a dedicated mother. Joaquim Brunini was of Italian descent and was a free spirit. He became a journalist and offered to his children always the best schools even if money was a little short.

When she was 12 years old they moved to Rio de Janeiro where my mother had uncles that were always a great support and very loving. They helped the family in many different ways and offered my mom many great experiences. She loved Rio de Janeiro, it was her favorite town. She loved talking about that time in her life. Her father regardless of being a free spirit was very strict with his children. When my aunt wanted to meet her boyfriend, she would go out with my mother and they would meet my aunt´s boyfriend inside the movie theater. Her father died when she was eighteen years old. From then her uncles helped a great deal. She also made very good friends at school and she has kept these friendships until she died. Gilda, Sueli, Tania, Regina, Angela, Cleide, Leila and my mom had a lot of fun together like travelling, movies and parties. I remember one particular story that she loved to tell. Gilda got a car from her father but she didn´t know how to drive, it was a stick shift car, so Gilda would work the accelerator and the breaks and my mother would change de gears. She always laughed when she told that story. Her uncle Raul was a congressman of the state of Rio de Janeiro and his wife didn´t like to participate on public events, he would take my mother to those events, she loved that. She would dress up and go to plays or other events. She was a hard worker since then, because they were short on money she started to sew clothes to everyone on her building. She then got a job as a secretary and started going to English classes. That is where she met my father, Edson Dupont. The dated for a year and then got married. Soon after the had her first daughter Daniella. They lived in a small house. Two years later she had my sister Carolina. My mother sewed all of their clothes. My father who worked with marketing was promoted a couple of times and finally got an offer for a job in Venezuela. I was born there by I was told that I was made in Brazil, something that makes me smile. Life in Venezuela

was great, they moved to a big house, were part of a community of expatriates that had a lot of events. There she met Beth, a friend that stayed close until she parted two years a go. That was my mother, a wonderful woman that appreciated and maintained long time relationships, always calling and keeping in touch. My sisters attended an American school and at the time spoke Portuguese, English and Spanish. For me it took a little longer to start speaking, they say that it was because there were too many languages around me. My family spoke Portuguese, my nanny, Guendalina spoke English and everyone else spoke Spanish. I started speaking after I was three years old, I think now I am still trying to make up for that lack of speaking, or at least that is was my sisters tell me. Unfortunately the happy years in Venezuela didn´t last long. Their relationship fell apart and through a very painful process the got a divorce. My mother was inconsolable, she loved my father very much. She then moved back to Brasil and stayed for some time with her sister Cidinha, who is here today. My aunt and my uncle tio Ka welcomed us with all their love and helped my mother during this difficult time. Her uncle Nene then got her a job in São Paulo and we moved to a tiny but cozy apartment. My mother would work all day and go to English classes at night. These were trying times. Her mother still lived in Rio de Janeiro and after a week of hard work she would make the long 5 hours drive to Rio de Janeiro to be with her mother.

She got a new job at Gates Rubber Company as a bilingual secretary where she met my step dad, Max Baudinat. Max was born in France and when he was 20 years old he moved to the United States. He was a very intelligent man and without having an engineer degree he became the Engineer director at Gates in Brazil. They fell in love and soon got married. We moved to a very nice apartment and a new phase began to all of us. At Gates they met Ze Francisco, a friend that stayed very close until the end. Two years later we moved to São José dos Campos, a city about an hour from São Paulo. At the time it was a small town with beautiful neighborhoods where kids played on the streets, rode their bikes and played on parks around the neighborhoods. It was a very special moment for our family. My mother made many friends during this time, friends that also she kept in touch until she passed. Some of these friends were like uncles and aunts to us. On our second house we lived on a dead-end street and we formed a close knit community. All the moms helped each other. Some of these great friends were Lucia, Dedier, Regina, Flávio, Arlene, Pedro, Pupa, Claugo, Teresa, Vadinho, Silvana, Gonzaga, Patricia, Dagmar, Ozilio, Graziela, Arnaldo, Cida, Bento and Glorita among many others, forgive me if I didn´t include everyone. She had a lot of fun during this time, there group was very close, they organized parties, trips, played volleyball and played cards. She loved to play cards, specially canastra and then king. She was very active then and worked out and was part of a amateur volleyball team. She loved the beach and they bought an apartment at Guaruja. At the time a small city by the coast. We spend many summer vacations there where we had a small motor boat, a sail boat, and a windsurf. Daniella would be on the windsurf and Carolina and I on the sail boat. My mother would be on a small rubber boat rowing and

asking everyone around to tell us not to go so far. It was a lot of fun. During our vacations in Guaruja mom and Max developed a very special relationship with Adriana and Jiacomo. They remained great friends. We also spend some summer vacations at Graziela´s house on Ubatuba where the both families would be together. Graziela had three daughters, Daniela, Ana Lia and Natalia that were close to our ages. We were all friends. My mother also loved to take care of her house, she gardened and even won a prize of the 10 most beautiful gardens with a swimming pool from a famous magazine. She sowed curtains, pillows, made arraiolo rugs and with the help of Max they decorated all our houses in a beautiful way. They bought a sheepdog called Alfred. She loved that dog, he followed her wherever she went. Mom and Max enjoyed very much travelling and they travelled a lot, sometimes just the two of them and many times with the whole family. We came to the United States frequently, and one of the most specials trips was a 45 five day around Europe where we visited many countries and met Max´s family. It was amazing. They also travelled to Argentina, Mexico, Caribbean and Paraguay where they went to the Mundialito a soccer tournament where they had a fabulous time. She always talked about that trip. We travelled around Brazil as well and made some trips to Salvador where my aunt Cidinha lived. Cidinha has four children, Monica, Gal, Pedro and Ana Luiza. My mother loved them very much. Pedro and her had a very strong relationship as he was her godsun. He spend many vacations with us and they spoke frequently. He came over right after he heard the news and there are not enough words in the world to thank him. He was amazing. When Max retired they decide to move to the United States, it was her dream to live here and they chose Florida. Carolina and I came with them and Daniella stayed in Brazil. They enjoyed their life here. She then decided to go back to work and started as a sales clerk a gift shop, at the time owned by Petty´s mother, another great friend she made in America. Max passed away some years later and while he was sick she stopped working and dedicated herself with heart and soul taking care of him. After he went to a hospice facility she would wake up early every day and stay with him until night. She never missed a day. After he passed away she went back to work and the owners had changed. The hired her immediately and she became a manager. She loved that shop, she loved her coworkers. She took care of them, and held a helping hand every time they needed. She made friends with all kinds of people from different countries and different ages. She met Erika on the shop and they also remained good friends until she passed. There are too many to mention every one after 20 years working at the shop but we know she considered all of her coworkers like a family and loved each and every one of them like a mother.

At that time Carolina got married and had Nina. My mother love Nina and loved taking care of her. They then decided to live in the same house. When Nina was a baby they all shared the responsibility of taking care of her. My mother would be with her on her day off, the same with Alex and Carol. So she was always very close to Nina. Always being

there for her. While working on the shop she would take a month vacation every year and go to Brazil. She had a great time there. She visited us and all her friends. She loved being with her friends and it was always a party when she was around. She became really close to Jeanne, the daughter of one of her friends that passes away to soon and they became like a second family to her. She cherished a lot their relationship.

In Orlando she got a second extended family, friends that she often saw and enjoyed their company. I´d like to mention some of them, please forgive again if I didn´t include everyone, I tried my best. So I would like to give a special thanks to the following families – Pagetti Silva family, Oliveira Family, Sabato family, Cicarinni family, Sprinkles family and Marilza, Leo and Ricardo.

My mother also loved her sons in law, Miguel, Alex and Renato. She enjoyed there company very much and they were all a great support these past weeks. We are very lucky to have such wonderful husbands. I would like to thank all of them for helping us throughout this process.

In my opinion one of her greatest accomplishment was how she developed and maintained all of her friends. It was a beautiful thing to watch and we learned a lot from that. With each friend she developed a very unique friendship making everyone feel like they were their best friend.

My mother was a very special person. She had a strong personality and a heart bigger than the universe. She was always there for her friends and for us. She spoke freely what she thought and I think most people really appreciated that. She was funny, smart, hardworking, caring, loving and interesting.

My sisters and I will think of her every day for the rest of our lives. We are grateful for everything she did to us and specially for her lioness way of protecting us. We will miss her dearly, she was bigger than life.