Leilanie Waldmann

Leilanie Costa Waldmann of New York, NY, passed away on January 5th, 2023 at the age of 72. She was born on March 29th, 1950 in Quezon City, Philippines. Her family would eventually settle in Parañaque City located in Metro Manila, when she was 8 years old.

Her father was a retired colonel of the Philippine Army, a war veteran and her mother was a pre-war movie actress. She graduated from Cancio & Calma School of Interior Design in 1971, with her degree in Interior Decorating. When she was 18, she was chosen to be a candidate for Miss Philippines, but she declined. At 19 years old, she was a calendar model for a big corporation. She was also a pianist, very athletic and a good swimmer.

She is survived by her beloved husband of 43 years, Gerhard, her son, Christopher, her daughter-in-law, Rachel, her granddaughter Mirai, her sister, Cynthia, her brother-in-law, Louis.

She is preceded in death by her parents, Colonel Hernando Rillo Costa and Leonore Llamas Costa.

She arrived in New York on January 18th, 1971 with a suitcase and some savings. She ended up working in the hospitality industry as a waitress and/or hostess. She had a natural ability to charm her customers and colleagues with her engaging personality and her bright smile. Furthermore, she also had a unique talent in being able to take on multiple orders without writing anything down. Some of the restaurants which she used to work at over the years, Marco’s Discotheque, Charely-0’s, The Captain’s Ketch, The Park Avenue Country Club, The Wicked Wolf, and most recently, The Green Kitchen.

In her later years, she was an active volunteer at the Church of St. Monica. She enjoyed helping decorate the church for the holidays and also helping out during mass services. She also enjoyed being in the company of her husband, her friends, her church group, her breakfast club and most recently, having FaceTime calls with her son, daughter-in-law and her granddaughter Mirai via FaceTime. (She just started teaching Mirai some Tagalog).

She enjoyed life the fullest, never taking anything for granted. She loved travelling, playing the piano, playing tennis, she loved her classic movies and old Westerns (some of her favorites included The Wizard of Oz, Ben Hur, Gone With The Wind, Singing In The Rain, Casablanca, Lawrence of Arabia, West Side Story, The Sound of Music, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly). She absolutely LOVED The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Simon & Garfunkel, The Beach Boys, Dave Clark Five, The Mamas & The Papas, and many other groups from that era. Some of her favorite TV Shows are Bonanza, Perry Mason, The Honeymooners, The Odd Couple, The Ed Sullivan Show, I Love Lucy, Lassie, Dennis the Menace, Hawaii Five-O and Dynasty.

Throughout many conversations with her family and friends, she enjoyed reminiscing of the good old days with everyone. She did her best to stay in touch with as many as people as was able to. She always loved sharing stories from her childhood, her experiences when she first moved to New York, or when her son was in grade school. She remembered the majority of her son’s classmates growing up, and would occasionally ask if he still heard or kept in touch with them. She truly cared about the well being of others. She would go as far as to remind me of everyone’s birthdays-and she knew many of them.

To her family, she was a loving wife, mother, mother-in-law and grandmother.

She will be missed dearly by all those who knew and loved her.