Lucia Sa Campos Taylor

Lucia Sa Campos Taylor, beloved wife, mother, and grandmother, passed peacefully on June 8, 2024, after a courageous battle with a long illness. Born on April 23, 1933, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Lucia attended the Jacobina School and the University of Rio de Janeiro. She also studied to be an English teacher through the University of Michigan’s Teacher’s Training Program. In addition to being an engaged and accomplished student and a teacher, she was a gifted ballet dancer. Lucia met her future husband, Everard Sinclair Taylor, a United States Foreign Service Officer, when he was stationed at the United States Embassy in Brazil. They married in Rio on December 18, 1964. As was then required by the Department of State, Lucia became a U.S. citizen in January, 1965, in New York City. Lucia and Ev served together in Zaire, Indonesia, Portugal, Ethiopia, Denmark, Canada, and Brazil, with additional stints in Washington D.C. at the State Department. They retired to Vienna, Virginia after their long and exhilarating diplomatic life.

In addition to excelling in her roles as a diplomat's partner and devoted mother, Lucia worked in several U.S. embassies while overseas. Her various roles included interviewing candidates for nonimmigrant visas and making recommendations for the issuance or denial of visas. In the U.S., she worked as a Consular Affairs Assistant and Administrator in several bureaus, including the U.S. Permanent Mission to the Organization of American States, until she retired in 1995. While Lucia was an extremely proud U.S. citizen, she truly was a cosmopolitan citizen of the world who spoke seven languages. An utterly devoted and loyal daughter, sister, wife, mother, and grandmother, Lucia was a wonderful hostess and a lover of dancing, musical theater, and animals. She will be remembered for her elegance, inner strength, dignity, kindness, bravery, determination, adventurous spirit, and joie de vivre.

Lucia was preceded in death by her parents, Jenny Baère de Sá Campos and José Teixeira de Sá Campos, her brother and sister-in-law, Dr.s José and Lilian Sá Campos, and sister, Teresa Sá Campos Ferraiuolo. She is survived by her beloved husband, Everard, daughter and son-in-law, Claudia Taylor Overstrom and Gunnar S Overstrom, III, grandchildren, Gunnar S Overstrom, IV and Taylor Alexandra Overstrom, as well as her nieces and great-nieces.

A service to celebrate Lucia's beautiful life will be held on Thursday, June 20, at 11:00 a.m. at National Funeral Home, 7482 Lee Highway, Falls Church, VA 22042. Donations in her memory may be made to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center at http://mskcc.convio.net/goto/LuciaTaylor