Mrs Maria Antonia (Gelpi) Fernandez

Maria Antonia Fernandez passed peacefully in the late afternoon of Monday February 20, 2023. Maria, “Nica”, to her family and friends was born Maria Antonia Gelpi in Havana, Cuba, on January 27, 1927. As the sixth of eleven children, Nica helped care for her brothers and sisters and was often sent by her mother to help care for the children of her older siblings. In Havana, Nica met her lifelong love, Andrew B Fernandez, “Andres”. Andres and Nica were briefly separated when, seeking opportunity, Andres came to the USA and settled in Washington DC just after the end of WWII. Andres returned to la Habana in 1950 where he and Nica were married and together, they emigrated to the United States. Both were deeply proud to become US citizens.

A close group of brothers, sisters and friends soon followed forming a tight knit extended family whose Sunday lunches became a hallmark of celebrations for decades. Sadly, Andres died suddenly in 1970 at the age of 45. The overnight pressure that transformed the family and the role of wage earner from father to mother was met by Nica with fierce resolve and dogged hard work. Nica succeeded in ways that both stunned and made her rightly proud of her accomplishments.

Nica began her career in the Arlington County school system as a cafeteria worker but soon took a position with local DC restaurant icon Blackie Auger at one of his restaurants. She successfully opened Blackie’s first Baskin Robbins store in DC and later was transferred to the restaurant side of Blackie’s operation to improve the operation of a struggling restaurant. Maria rose through the ranks with Blackie’s eventually becoming the restaurant day manager at Blackie’s most popular restaurants (Bojangles, Abbey Road) and clubs. There was no mistaking the change in operation, service and cleanliness once she arrived at a restaurant. Nica retired from Blackies but continued to work as a food service manager at a hotel closer to her home in Loudoun County.

Nica had a great sense of humor and enjoyed movies, reading, gardening and was an accomplished seamstress who could make just about any garment, drapery or upholstery from scratch. Nica was also a terrific cook and her meals anchored Sunday lunches and holiday feasts for multiple generations of the Fernandez family and friends.

Of all the great enjoyments in her life, Nica’s greatest and most meaningful was her family. Nica had four children Andy (Vicki), Rick (Ellen), Maria (Blair) and Rosie (John). Nica loved that she was called by almost as many variations of “Grandma” as she had grandchildren and treasured her six grandchildren Sara (Dean), Tom, Nicole, Mark, Jaleh (Brett), Julia, Alex and Jack and great grandchildren Thalia, Shelby, Elowen, Axel, Juniper and fought to hang on at the end to hear of the birth of her sixth great grandchild, Woods.

A funeral service is scheduled for noon Monday, February 27 at Murphy’s Funeral Home at 1102 W Broad St, Falls Church, VA with cemetery service at 2 pm at Columbia Garden Cemetery 3411 Arlington Blvd, Arlington, VA. In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations be made to one of the charities that Nica supported: St Jude’s Hospital, American Cancer Society or The American Diabetes Association.