COLUMBIA - A Memorial Mass for Gertrudis Penichet Canaves, 93, will be celebrated at 12:00 noon Wednesday, March 31, 2021 at St. John Neumann Catholic Church. Dunbar Funeral Home, Northeast Chapel, is assisting the family.
Mrs. Canaves was born in Havana, Cuba in 1927 and passed away Friday, March 26, 2021. Her mother died when she was seven and her father died when she was twelve. Her father was a renowned physician whose family owned and operated a chain of Penichet family Pharmacy in Havana, Cuba.
She attended Immaculate Conception Boarding School until she graduated from High School. Once orphaned, she was raised by her paternal aunts and the nuns at the school. After graduating from high school, she married Mr. Nestor Nunez Galvez. They had five children together; Tuly married William Guitart (now deceased), Nestor married Montse, Carlos( now deceased), survived by his wife, Petra, Luisa married Ivan Pino and Vivian married Ken Meadows. She later married Jaime Canaves Ugalde and moved to Puerto Rico, becoming a family of nine with his children, Sonia and Jaime Jr.
She immigrated from her country of Cuba in 1961 to Florida, her journey continued to Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, New Orleans, and finally settling with her daughters and extended family in Columbia, S.C.
Her love for religion and faith inspired her activism in the community such as visiting the sick, teaching catechism, and assisting with communion during Sunday Mass. As she went through life challenges, her faith was always present and an integral part of her life.
Although forced to depart her country of birth, Cuba, she became a proud American but instilled in her family the beauty, love and traditions that made her who she was. She always told things as she saw them. Feisty till the end. She was Brilliant, Elegant, Unique, Beautiful, Loving, Proud and Strong.
She is survived by her four children, 15 grandchildren, 23 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren, who all were the essence of her world. Her greatest goal and achievement in life was to keep her family together. Nothing mattered more to her than family.
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