Narcidita "Edith" Villaverde Herman

Narcidita Villaverde Herman lovingly and positively lived 63 years and 8 months. She treated each day of her life as a blessing from God and she praised Him daily for the gift of life. She was known as Edith or Detch, Mom, Ma, or Mommy Edith, sister, cousin, aunt, and one very lucky guy knew her as his wife.

She was born on July 14, 1957, and she grew up as the youngest of 5 children in metro Manila, Philippines. She left her homeland in 1981 for the United States and eventually became a US citizen in 1996. She was always so proud of the journey that she traveled to becoming a citizen. After becoming a citizen, she was able to file papers to bring her mother to the US and eventually her son Jeeko. Many will never understand the enormous pride that Edith had for this accomplishment. This fact about her life is one of the most epic achievements of her legacy.

After arriving in the US, she settled in Lake Tahoe, California. At the age of 24 she got her first and only job when she began working at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe casino in 1981 and moved to Harrah’s North Kansas City casino in 1995. She worked for Harrah’s for 39 years and 8 months and she had talked of working until her 45th year anniversary at Harrah’s because she loved her job and the people she worked with. She was a dedicated employee of Harrah’s and was known for her admirable work ethic, excellent skill, and thoroughness. One of her most precious awards that she earned was an award for Exceptional Skill due to her quality of work. She earned several awards throughout her career, all of which reflected on the high quality work that she performed. In the workplace, everybody loved her and respected her. She loved her co-workers so much. In the 14 years at Harrahs Tahoe and 25 years at Harrahs NKC, she developed friendships with many, many co-workers. She would often share funny stories about Carrie, Robert, Tim, Kathleen, Anthony, and many other people that she worked with. Everyone looked up to her as a role model. Everyone loved Edith for her personality, charm, and style.

She was most proud of her two sons Jeeko and Jernan. She cherished the title of Mom and provided for her boys in ways too many to describe. She always made sure they had everything they needed and loved them both so very much. Edith loved her granddaughter Kyla and her grandson Kyle. She was never a big fan of the title grandma, so they both called her Mommy Edith. Edith loved Lea and Alyson, the wives of Jeeko and Jernan. She was so proud to see her boys married to such beautiful, caring, and loving wives. Lea and Alyson loved Edith and looked up to her with respect and admiration.

Edith loved her many relatives and extended family. Aunts, uncles, and cousins, as well as nieces and nephews were all very important to her. Her relatives had much respect for her and admired her for the fullness in which she lived her life. For many years, Edith has given aid to any relative that asked because she graciously shared what she had so others could have. Her sister Julie and brothers Larry and Lestie also greatly loved and admired Edith. She was very fond of her sister in law Yollie and they loved each other deeply. They were all so proud of the beautiful life that their youngest sister had achieved. She also had 4 brothers-in-law and 1 sister-in-law that loved and admired her. Dan, Tom, Greg, Raelyn, and Jerry looked up to her and loved her as the sister she was to them. They knew that she was too good for their brother, but was proud of him for being married to such a beautiful, loving person.

Edith was a simple person that had exquisite taste. She was content with living a simple life and she enjoyed being at home more than anything. While at home, she thoroughly enjoyed watching her endless list of TV shows and movies while online shopping at some of her favorite brands. She would sit with her feet stretched out and her iPad in her lap shopping and watching the TV. She was proud of her Chanel collection and her many items from Louis Vuitton, Gucci, etc. When she went out, she was dressed like a fashion model with her high-end styled outfits and accessories. She loved dressing up and going to eat at fine restaurants. People often complimented her on her beautiful outfits and mostly her shoes. She had such a collection of the most amazing shoes anyone could imagine. She loved watching theatre productions and was a season ticket holder at Starlight Amphitheater for many years so she could watch broadway shows.

Edith loved to travel, whether by airplane, cruise ship, or a long road trip. Long road trips in the car were such a joy for her and her and her husband embarked on several amazing journeys in the car. She had traveled through many European countries and the Caribbean. She had taken several cruises and loved the experiences from cruising. She had a long list of places that she wanted to travel to in the coming years.

Edith was a member of St. Andrew the Apostle Parish and her faith in God was constant throughout her entire life. Attending Mass was always very important to her and her favorite place in church was the front row so she could pray and worship with little distractions. During the past year, she only attended Mass in person 3 times as an attempt to avoid COVID. She did watch Mass every Sunday on YouTube and she was anxious for the day when she could get back to attending Mass in person. She was an active member of the parish choir for many years. It brought her great joy to sing and she had a very beautiful voice. Her fellow choir members are deeply saddened that they have lost her and her beautiful voice.

Edith lived a clean, healthy lifestyle and always had a clean bill of health. She put great effort into avoiding COVID during the past year. Sadly, she became sick with the ugly virus and her body was fatally affected by it. She fought hard to recover, but it was God’s will to take her from us. We will all grieve for her loss and pray that we will trust in His will.

Edith had so much more life left to live and is gone far too soon. Her surviving family, friends and coworkers are sad that she will no longer be in their lives. Her pretty smile and cheerful personality was attractive to all that knew her.

Edith is survived by her husband Gary, who loved her so much, her sons Jeeko (Lea) and Jernan (Alyson), grandchildren Kyla and Kyle, sister Julie, brothers Larry (Valerie) and Lestie (Yollie), and brothers in law Dan, Tom, Greg (Raelyn) and Jerry and many cousins, nieces, and nephews. So many of her relatives live far away and due to travel restriction will not be able to attend her visitation and funeral. Julie (London, England), Larry (Calgary, Canada), and Lestie (Manila, Philippines) are among many of her loving family that will not be present at the services and they are all heartbroken for not being here to celebrate her life.

She leaves us all and will soon be joined with her parents Nanay and Tatay, Lola, and brother Nitoy, as well as her parents in-law Don and Yvonne Herman, and the many relatives that have gone before her.

Her family has been so blessed to receive such an outpouring of love and condolences from so many people since her passing. The phone calls, emails, and social media comments have brought forth such a potent feeling of love. During our extreme pain, the overwhelming love that we are receiving from all is powerful and therapeutic. As family we lived in the loving atmosphere of Edith for years and we are now experiencing all of the love that people had for her in such a robust way.

Edith would be humbled to know of the outpouring of love over her passing. She would want us all to smile and be happy, and to live our lives with gratitude. She would want her passing to cause others to take better care of themselves and to treat others with kindness. She would remind us all that every person deserves respect and the easiest way to show that is by saying hello. She would say, “you never know how impactful a friendly hello could be to someone.”

Rest in peace Edith. You have blessed our lives and we will miss you.