Who Left This Earth on June 13, 2018
Our loving and devoted mother, wife, and grandmother, Nymia V. Europa Benitez, passed away on June 13, 2018, in the arms of her husband of 57 years, Eddie L. Benz, in their home in Hemet, California. Nymia was 74 years old when she died. She is survived by husband, Eddie; her children, Jennifer, Cherry, Pamila, Maureen, and Sonny; her grandchildren, Alisa, DJ, Zach, Lauren, Zoey, Jordenne, Leila, Isaiah, Lorenzo, and Darius; and her great-grandchildren, Elijah, Alana, Divina, and Dahnay.
Nymia V. Europa Benitez left a legacy of hope, dreams, and purpose that is perpetuated through those that love her: her husband, her children, her grandchildren, and her great-grandchildren. She had aspired to be a lawyer just like her cousin Cardozo and her Uncle Jesus. She met Eddie L. Benz (then known as Edmundo Liquette Benitez) while in high school, fell in love, and they married while she was still in college. The following year, her oldest daughter was born, and she had four more children, whom she adored, loved, and praised. She was a mother of strength and tenacity, with a heart that encompassed the universe. For a time, Nymia worked as a reporter for the Guam Pacific Daily News when she lived there in the late 60s and early 70s. Later, she worked as an insurance adjuster and retired in the 1990s. After retirement, she found time to devote to her piano playing, reading, writing, creating picture scrapbooks of her family, doing some gardening with her husband, and spending time with and caring for her grandchildren.
Nymia was a writer like her father Samuel. She found joy in composing poetry and letters. She was passionate about music, books, and dance. She played the piano, played the ukulele during gatherings with friends, wrote poetry, sang, and crocheted. She was the life of the party. She exuded vibrancy and color. She loved scarves and pearls and peach and yellow hues. She was adventurous. She once drove a stick-shift convertible, green Mustang with the hood down because she loved the feeling of the wind on her face and being open to the world. Her close and life-long friends remember her as fun and fun-loving, a “city-girl” who was pampered and spoiled by her Auntie Ninay. She could be headstrong and rebellious, but she was kind, gentle, giving, and caring, and always making sure that everyone was cared for.
Maureen, her fourth child captures her essence with these words: “There was a lot of love in my Mother’s life. She was an incredible mother who inspired everyone who knew her. Even though she is gone now, her children and grandchildren will preserve and sow her legacy and keep her memory in our hearts forever.”
