I remember Tia Ofelia making her famous black beans! She would feed me a big bowl of it for lunch when I was little. She would remind me every time how healthy they were and made sure I had an extra serving of it each time! Now as an adult, it’s my go-to comfort food. ❤️

OFELIA PRESAS was born OFELIA DEL CARMEN ALDAO y GRAÑA in La Habana, Cuba on April 2, 1933 at Hijas de Galicia Hospital in Luyanó. She would always bemusedly recall being born amidst the political chaos and flying bullets of the “Machadato.” She was a first generation Cuban, the daughter of Galician immigrants Aurea Graña Cid from Ourense and Manuel Aldao Pan from A Coruña. She grew-up attending her beloved Santa Rosalía Catholic School
where she excelled in basketball. “El básquet”, her sport, took her extensively throughout Central and South America as she was a member of the Cuba Women’s National Basketball Team.  Ofelia (“la rubia”) was a stellar player, wearing the number “20”, which was of course her favorite lucky number. She would want you to play “El 20”, su número de suerte, in today’s lottery. She competed in the 1953 Female International Basketball Association World Championship Tournament in Santiago de Chile. She treasured the time spent with her teammates. She had many fond memories of team visits to the presidential palace, where President Fulgencio Batista and First Lady Marta Fernández warmly hosted “las muchachitas.” She married Antonio Presas (Ñico) in Los Pinos, La Habana in 1962. A daughter, Ana María, was born in 1964 and a son, Antonio, in 1965. The young family went into exile with her mother (a double-exiled gallega) in 1967, settling in Los Angeles, California. A daughter, Helen, was born in 1969. Ofelia moved to Miami in 1990. She passed away on January 25, 2021 in Sarasota, Florida. She was predeceased by her father and mother, respectively, in 1969 and 1976; her brother, Manuel, in 1994; her adored niece, Ofelia (“Ofelita”), in 2000. Her husband passed away in 2008. Ofelia is survived by her three children, two sons-in-law, a  daughter-in-law, nine grandchildren, a grandson-in-law, three great grandsons, two grand nieces, a grand nephew, and her sister-in-law.


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Ofelia Presas

2 April, 1933 – 25 January, 2021

Kays-Ponger, Uselton & Lemon Bay Funeral Homes

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