Maria Monserrate Sanchez Morales

Today we honor Maria Monserrate Sanchez born September 16, 1932 in West Puerto in a small town call Hormigueros. Her parents traveled North to Mayaguez and that is where Maria was raised most of her life. At seventeen she moved to the N.Y. where she met Miguel Rodriguez was married and had her four children Janet, Yvette, Mikey and Richard Rodriguez. She worked hard as a seamstress to provide for her children. And she traveled back and forth between Puerto Rico and New York her whole life.

In June of 1978 Maria moved to Miami, FL with her daughter Janet where they would begin their new life. Florida was Maria’s home for many years. She worked in a lab and in a retail store. She worked until she could work no more and then headed back to Puerto Rico where she planned to be to the end.

The family would intervene on that ending. She had come to the point where she couldn’t cook and was not taking her meds for diabetes and high blood pressure. She was terribly ill and needed to be rescued. Janet, Albert, Tattiana and Sebastian would access how bad she was doing. Jonathan, Janet’s son would go to Puerto Rico and take her north to New Jersey for a few months to live with her son Mikey. Finally she decided it was too cold and she wanted to be back to Florida.

Jonathan went to New Jersey and picked up Maria and brought her to live in South FL with her daughter, Janet. She had gotten much better now that she had family to take care of her. She watched Sebastian, Tatiana’s son grow since he was two years old. They would sit outside in the back yard and she would talk and play with him. Maria loved to be outside catching some sun and having small sips of water.

The last two months of her life were the most crucial. She was in and out of the hospital because she was vomiting and could not hold anything down. She was so ill the end seemed to be near. She was in the hospital for five weeks finally she recovered to the point where she could come home, according to the doctors. Home wouldn’t last 24 hours she was back in the hospital for two more weeks. She seems better. Good enough to go to rehab where she would undergo physical therapy. Uncle Mikey spent the last weeks of her life with her at every moment. On Sunday, March 16, 2014 the family was called to the rehab center because she was having problems breathing. She would go back to Aventura hospital where she was for the last days of her life.

At 12:49pm, March 18, 2014 in room 426 Maria took her last breathe. She went peacefully with her son Mickey at her side. She was an outstanding mother and grandma and we all loved her very much. Maria Monserrate Sanchez you will be missed but never forgotten.