Irma Silva

Blanca Irma Silva,88, of Olathe, Kan. passed away October 17, 2011 peacefully surrounded by her loving family. Visitation will be from 9:30 a.m.-11:00 a.m., Friday, October 21, 2011 at the McGilley & Frye Funeral Home- Olathe with funeral services following at 11:00 a.m. Memorial Contributions can be made to the American Diabetes Association.

She is preceded in death by her husband, Luciano Silva.

Irma is survived by her loving son, Hector and his wife Despina Silva; grandson, John and wife Heather; adoring great grandchildren, Aidan and Alicen.

Biography: My name is Blanca Irma Silva, although I never use the name Blanca. I was born on September 1, 1923. For a great portion of my life I celebrated January as my birthday. Until one day I had to send for proof in order to renew our wedding vows. I was send a copy of my birth certificate that at first I thought was wrong because it had a different date of birth. Turns out I was wrong and they were right. I have completed 88 years on his earth. I do not remember anything about my Grandparents other than that my Abuela’s (Grandmother) name was Clementina. No one called her by her given name. When she was a child she heard the word “Girl” and wanted everybody to call her ”Girl”. Everyone did the rest of her life. When she was older she was called “Dona Girl” by anyone who knew her. My Mother was Monsserate Almodovar. My parents never did marry although they were together from the time he was 17 years old and she was 13. My Father was a bit of a lady’s man. It was because of this that she eventually took her own life at the age of 33. My Father then married my step-mother, Bertha, who lived until a little past the age of 70. My father on the other hand lived until the ripe age of 97. His name was Hilario delMoral. I have 4 siblings, 2 brothers and 2 sisters. The oldest is Luz Estelle, I came next three years later and then there is Hannibal (Anibal) Hilario who passed away in 2010 at 83. A few years later came Jose Vicente (known as Vicen) who is 13 years younger than me. The last sibling, and many years later, is Anna Judith, who is 17 years younger than me. Judith was the only child born to My Father and Bertha.

We lived on a street named La Luna (the Moon), so you can say I was born on the Moon. Our town of Yabucoa was built on hills so it was a street made of large ascending steps (or descending depending on your direction), with our house around the middle. We were near the recreation plaza, similar to a playground, and the Church. The name of the Church was De Los Angeles and it was full of statues of angels. It was destroyed during a hurricane and rebuilt without all of the statues. There were a total of 3 churches in town, one Catholic and two protestant.

Also near both the plaza and the church was one of my Father’s stores. It was right next to the local movie theatre, St. Rafael’s. He owned two stores over the years. He started working in a grocery/dry goods store when he was 12 years old. He became a clerk and had the job until he was 24 years old. When Social Security began they gave people retroactive checks to cover some of the years they were working prior to that time. My father took the money and bought his own store. He had that first store for three years. He sold that store and bought a bigger store. The store did not have a name or a sign. They did not need one. Everyone knew that was where you went to buy groceries, liquor or other sundries. My Father was the biggest merchant in town. Besides his retail business he acted as a wholesaler to stores from seven surrounding counties. The grocery portion was separated from the liquor store by a wall. All stores were closed on Sundays so that people could go to church instead of shopping except for my Father’s store.

On Sundays the grocery was open but the liquor area was closed. Or at least the front door to the liquor section was closed. The back door was open and Dad would sell from there. It was against the law to sell on liquor on Sunday but his biggest customers that day were policemen. He eventually opened another store in a different part of town. My youngest Brother, Vincent, would work at the stores along with three to four employees. My Father did not do too badly for a man that did not have any real education. Yet he had a great head for business.

I had two uncles Eduardo and Angel. Their Mother was Dad’s sister and her husband sold a form of Monkey Bread door to door everyday at 3:00pm. All his customers waited for him every day. He sold at that hour so it would still be warm for dinner. Eduardo was known as “Lolo” and he was a boxer. However, without anyone in town to push and help him, he never became the professional boxer he wanted to be. Angel was very handsome with blue eyes. However, his favorite pastimes were drinking and sleeping. He never had a job and counted on the family for his existence.

At home there was not much for us to do in the house. We had a maid and sometimes a cook. There was only one school and it only went as far as the 9h grade. If you wanted to go to high school you had to travel to Humacao and pay for the bus. My Father did not want to pay for the bus. He said, “you can read and you can write, that’s good enough”. Therefore no one in the family studied past the 9th grade. Today it is not an issue since there is a high school and the “Centro de Estudios Multidisciplinarios” , “Colegio Dr. Roque Díaz” and “Corporación Educativa de Yabucoa” are all colleges in town. We had different teachers for different classes. My favorite was Math taught by Mrs. Rios. There were 42 students in my group. Each group had students from 2 grades, for example 6th and 7th grades were one group and 8th and 9th was another group.

During school vacation and on Christmas holidays my Father and Bertha would send us to live with his Brother Mathias and his wife as well as Euhenia (a.k.a. Henia) Dias, another relative. They each had an acre of land outside of town. It was about a 15 minute walk but it was already a suburb called Camino Nuevo. My Father would pay for everything including the food and give them some more just for taking care of us. Since there were trees all over, I would climb the trees and then throw things at people from my perch.

After finishing school and since I could not go to High School I took a course learning about the community. We learned about the history of the town, the government, what business and commerce were found in town and the people. We learned about the town from the time of the Indians through the time we were under Spain to the time the USA took over.

When I was 16 I went to work in a woman’s and girls clothing and accessories store. There were 4 of us working there. The owner was my Godmother; Gloria Casanova (also known as Mayin). She owned “La Gloria” one of many small clothes store in Yabucoa. I would get discounted clothes from there and worked there.

I worked there for 3 to 4 years. Along with the store Mayin also owned a business school. I attended the school to learn about business. It was a good school and I went there for 2 years.

I have had two husbands. The first was Pedro Julio Cordero. We met while he was in the army and were married 4 months later. He was deployed to France He died in combat during WWll in France, where he is buried in Marseilles. We had a child, Pedro Jr, who died from Diphtheria at the age of 2 years and 3 days old. He was born on June 25 and died on June 28. The Doctors knew his Father had died in the war so they did all they could to save him, to no avail. My second husband was Luciano Silva who everyone called by his nickname “Fili”. We had a son, Hector Luis Silva. We married 2 months after we met. I met Fili outside of his Sister Inez store. She sold dry goods and liquor. Her store was on the side of the road in La Pica. She would buy. Her goods from my father in town and sell it for a markup in the mountain. She also saw how my Father had a wall partitioning the grocery and dry goods from the liquor store and how he used that to illegally sell liquor on Sunday. She copied both ideas. It was only after I married Luciano that I found out that he and Pedro Julio were cousins. Pedro’s father was Christobar Cordero and his Mother was Monica Silva, sister of Fili’s Father Zacharia Silva. Fili’s Mother was Maria Cardona. Zacharia passed at the age of 95. They lived on the mountain, or “las Picas” as they were called, and he walked to town on November 2 to buy candles for the “dia de los muertos”. On the way back he did not feel good and he by the edge of the road. His heart failed him and he died sitting by the road. Maria died at the age of 62 from the same cancer that years later took Fili. They both suffered for four years prior to their death.

I was married twice with both my husbands. With Perdo Julio I was married in my Fathers house by a justice. After the wedding we moved to Arecibo where his parents lived. One year later we had a military wedding at the Army camp. We were married by Lt. Fountaine and there were about 25 people there. Then we had a reception with mostly his friends and fellow soldiers attending. When he was sent overseas I went to live with his parents. His mother was Monica Silva (nee: Lebron) and his Father was Cristobar Silva who was a cousin of the Silva family in “La Pica” (the Mountain) in Yabucoa. After Pedro died in France, his parents wanted me to keep living with them. I did live with them while at the same time I was also working and studying.

Pedro Julio Jr. was my first child and l loved him but I only saw him at night since I was working and going to school. When we celebrated his first birthday he was not feeling well. He was walking at 9 months just like my second son, Hector. He was baptized at 6 months. My sister- in-law Margo and Jose Rodriguez were the godparents. At my wedding to Pedro Julio. Margo was also my maid of honor. Luz Estelle was ready to give birth so she could not be in the wedding. Had a Luz Estelle stepson Johnny Cresioni and when she remarried, to Isaias Robles, she had a daughther Miriam. She also had a foster child from Humacao, Irma. She was much more than a foster child was a foster she stayed with her and took care of Luz for the rest of her life.

Fili and I were also married by a justice in my Father’s house. However it was not until 1957 When we were married in the Catholic church. This happened in St. Cecelia’s church in Manhattan on 106th st between Park Avenue and Lexington Avenue. Our Son Hector was 11 years old at the time and he cried until we let him sign as a witness. The Priest was Father O’Brien, one of the nicest Priest in the parish. When I wanted to have my son join the alter boys it was Father O’Brian that spoke to him and had him become one of the group.

My second son was Hector Luis Silva. He was born in Humaco. It was the closest hospital to Yabucoa. It was not a hospital at the time but was called the Ryder clinic. It was the same place where Rita Moreno was born years before Hector. I spent my time at the beach while waiting for him to be born. As a matter of fact I was at the beach when I had my first labor pain. He was born on December 3, 1946 at 10:00pm. He was over ten pounds and had t be extracted with tongs. The tongs squeezed his head and when Feli saw him he said, “myson looks like a hammer”. Fortunately that did not last forever and his head went back to normal. Feli and his brother Carlos made the crib for Hector. After it was finished Carlos got a doll from somewhere and put it in the crib. When Feli saw it he said, “this crib is for my son we did not make it for a doll”.

When Hector was born he may have walked at 9 months but as an infant he was always in someone’s arms. With a family as big as Fili’s family he was just constantly passed from one person to another.

His favorite food was spaghetti which for some reason he called “swapghetti”, why we will never know. At the table he would yell, I don’t want that I want Swapghetti!!

Another favorite later on was Monfogo (crushed Plantains with tripe, oil and garlic). Later in NYC His Cousin Jeanette was like a sister to him. She would stay with us from time to time. She was older but she would play like a nurse (which she became later in life) and she would have Hector lie down to take care of him. Every time he would try to get up she would tell him he was sick and she would make him lie down again. One day we were having Mofungo shaped like a ball. When they sat down he reached over and took her ball from her plate. She took it back, said it was hers and that there was more in the kitchen.. He reached over and took it again and she looked at him and finally said, “all right you can have it, I will go get some more for me”.

When Hector was around 2 years old he was missing. He was found naked walking around the town.

There was another time when we could not find him and he was eventually found sitting in the chicken coop. He was playing with the chicks and the biggest fear was that his head was almost touching the string of lights in the coop.

Yabucoa was not a boring place. There were always things to do. During the year there were carnivals with rides. Then on October 2 there was the “Fiestas Patronas” in honors of the Saints. Yabucoa was did not have one patron saint it was the city of All Saints. The celebration would begin 1 week before and continue for 1 week after. The mayor would make a speech. Over the years there were 6 mayors from the Delmoral family.

To tell you about growing up in Yabucoa let me begin by telling you that I did not like dolls. I never wanted dolls. What do you get out of holding a toy that does nothing. I found it boring. When Luz would give me her dolls to take care of for her I would slap them until she took them back. On the other hand I enjoyed skipping rope and playing hopscotch with my friends. I liked boys games. I liked to climb trees and At school in the gym program I was always winning all of the running races. I was a tomboy although my Father used to laugh and joke that his Daughter was going to grow up and be a lesbian.

I was also named the most popular. My best friends and I would play these games when we were not going to the beach. The beach was a 10 minute walk so most mornings I would get up and tell my parents I was going to the beach. I would spend most of the day there with my best friends Carmen Laboy and Zaida Overman. Zaida’s Father was American and he worked at the port which was 15 minutes away by car or bus. This is also where the other beach, Guajanes beach, was found. We did not go there often since we had our beach so close. But once in a while my friend’s father would let us ride in the back of his pickup truck and he would take us to Guajanes beach.

My Father gave my Sister and I one penny every day. If we were going to the beach he would put some things to eat into a sack at the store and tell us in his best English, “I no got no money today”. If we had saved any money from our daily penny we could but what we called “frikitin”. That is what we called the ice cream or other deserts. I was always with my friends and cousins whle my Sister had her own friends.

In the year 1950 My Husband left alone for New York City to get work and to bring us later. He was living with his Sister Ines and worked with her at a factory where they made belts for all ages. After one month he missed us too much and sent for us. One of our neighbors drove us to the airport. It was my first airplane ride but I was not nervous. I had been to the airport a number of times and I was so happy to go to be with my husband that I did not think about the airplane. It was Pan American airlines and at that time it was a six hour flight. The Stewardess loved my son. She told me that Hector was going to work during the trip. She would come and get him and took him with her whenever she was going to do anything. He would hold her hand and proudly follow her and do whatever she said. Fili met us at the airport in NYC along with Ines and her husband

Eladio, who everyone called Lalo. For the next month we stayed with Ines in her apartment on Webster St, in the Bronx. Then his sister Jenny rented an apartment on Tiffany St, also in the Bronx, where she had two extra rooms. So we moved in with her for the next year. After that we moved across the street into a furnished room. It was a place where we shared the bathroom and the kitchen with the other residents. We were there for three months and then moved to Manhattan.

We had an apartment on 103rd ST. in Manhattan between Madison Ave. and Fifth Ave. It was a four room railroad style apartment on the second floor. There were 2 bedrooms on opposite ends of the apartment with a living room, kitchen and bathroom in between. It was in what was known as “El Barrio” or Spanish Harlem. The apartment faced the backand the alley between buildings. In the summer men would play music, Guitars, accordions, etc, and people would throw money out the windows to them. The residents were predominantly Hispanic (Puerto Rican and Dominican mostly) and Black with few white families. Although we were just 3 blocks away from one of the richest hospitals in the city (Mount Sinai) and the Museum of the City of New York and the medical society were on the same block, it was a poor neighborhood. It was also dangerous enough that were had to have what was called a Fox safety bar on the door. We were burglarized twice in the years we were there. When I was laid off from Jerro Brothers I was sent to Nurses Aide training school by the unemployment office. I went to work the night shift at Mount Sinai. I enjoyed the time there. Fili had retired due to a bad back. He would pick me up every night and we would walk home. One night while he was waiting a group of men with a gun held him up. After that we decided that I would also retire. We figured that we could live on his Social Security and mine. It was not much but we managed. It was the happiest we ever were because we were together every day. Fili’s brother Peter (Known as Pejin) bought a house in the Bronx near his house and rented it to us. He did not want to charge us for it but Fili would not move in any other way. The house was wonderful. It gave Fili a backyard where he could grow vegetable and sit on the patio and play his guitar. The back of the house faced a one floor institution for people with mental disability. They were great neighbors who played and said hello and waved and Fili loved to be out there watching them and interacting with them. Unfortunately A few years before Fili had lung cancer and he had an operation that we thought had caught it in time. However it came back.

Jerro Brothers was a shoe company owned by four Arabic brothers. They were always in the factory. There were about 25 employees in a three story building. I worked in the factory for 12 years. I met my two best friends in NYC. Josephina and Petra began working there a few years after I did. We would be friends for the rest of my life. The factory did not make regular shoes. We may shoes for show business and the shoes were shipped to Hollywood. The shoes were usually plastic. Although I did a few different jobs over the years my main job was putting rhinestones on the shoes. We used different applications besides rhinestones. Sometimes we used flowers and one time if even used small nails.

After working at While working at Jerro Brothers I saw an story I the Paper. Mount Sinai Hospital was paying people who did not have a High School diploma to go to school and learning new skills. I applied and was accepted. For the next two years I was paid $60.00 a day to learn how to be a Nurse’s aide. This was a great time. I was learning, I was getting paid and it was only a short walk (three Blocks) from my apartment to the Hospital. The classes were from 4:00pm to 9:00pm from Monday to Friday. After I graduated I was given a job at Mount Sinai. I was working the evening shift. In that job I helped the nurses with the patients. I would check them in and get all of their information, help the nurses move the patients, clean the patients, bring and remove their food trays, anything and everything the nurses needed that did require giving medication or other medical procedures. I was there for five years. Fili would come to pick me up at night and we would walk back home. Then one night a couple of men came up to him with a gun and took his wallet. After that my Husband was afraid for me. Between that and his health, we decided that I would stay home. He was already retired due to a back injury that prevented him from continuing to do factory work. We had money coming in from Social Security and decided we would live on whatever we had. It was some of the happiest time of my life. We did not need money except for rent, groceries and incidentals. We had Central Park at the end of our street. We would take walks to the park and spent time there sitting and enjoying the view, watching the people and just being together. We would take the subway to downtown Manhattan and enjoy the city. On the weekends we would be with the Silva family. They would meet at someone’s house each week. There would be food and music and dancing and drinks. And there would be family that loved each other and loved to be together. We moved to the Bronx about six months after I left Mount Sinai. About a year later Fili was not feeling well and he when to the hospital. They ran tests and found cancer in his lungs. They operated and thought they had caught everything. However, about ten months later it returned and it had spread all over his body. For the next year he suffered with pain. He was in and out of hospitals until in 1982 he died in the Veterans Hospital in the Bronx.

After he passed away Josephina moved in with me. We lived together for a few years. “Josefa” as she was called was a comfort to me. We were still living in the house owned by my Brother-in-law, Pejin. During that time Hector and his family lived in Reston Virginia. Pejin’s son Peter was engaged and Pejin was going to need the house for his son after he was married. It was then that I moved to Virginia to live with Hector, Dessie and my Grandson John.

In Virginia we lived in a house in Herndon, a town about 18 miles outside of Washington, D.C. While there Dessie worked as a teacher for Kindercare, a day care center where she was responsible for 20 children of different ages. Dessie always tried to teach them something new every day. For a while I helped her take care of a child in our home who was the son of one of Hector’s co-workers.

Hector was promoted to a position in headquarters and we all moved to Kansas. This was especially good for John since he was not happy with Herndon High School. We moved into a much bigger house in Olathe, KS. The area was growing and the schools were new. John went to Olathe South High School which was seven years old at the time. He really enjoyed that school and the friends he made there. Friends he would have the rest of his life. Dessie went to work for a while at the school’s cafeteria.

My grandson John graduated from the University of Kansas. I was very proud of him. He married Heather Bluel and they gave me two wonderful grandchildren, Aidan and Alicen. They were a joy to me. They would visit and the children would picnic on the floor of my room. They would dance to music and sign along with videos. I loved to watch and hear them.

I was able to join the local Senior’s center and after a while found a church that I enjoyed. The Berean church not only gave me a new place to enjoy the lord but It gave me friends that I would love the rest of my life.

I lived with my family for a number of years. Then I moved to Popular Court, an independent living building for seniors. I went there so that I could be with other people my age and to join in activities on a daily basis. I lived there until my physical condition would not let me be there by myself.

I moved to Assisted Lifestyles. There I found not only a new place to live but a family of compassionate, caring people. I felt at home as the staff and the other residents became my family and friends. I found a place where I would be happy for the rest of my life.