Maria Jesuina Cardoso

Born April 12, 1927, in Terceira, the Azores Islands, Portugal, to Januario Cardoso Pires and Maria Jesuina Borges Pires. Passed away on January 18, 2012, from complications due to Alzheimer's. Alhina is survived by her son, Luis Adriano Cardoso and his wife, Maria Gorette, and their son Mark; her daughter Eileen Rosa and her husband Francisco, and their children Grace, Matthew, and Sophia; her brother Januario Pires of Arcata, CA; her sister Salome Bird of Fallbrook, CA; and many loving nephews and nieces in the Azores, Canada, and the United States. Alhina was married over forty years to Luis Felizardo Cardoso who passed away in 1994. Both were active members of the Portuguese society SES in Santa Clara. She was also a member of Rainha Santa Isabel and Our Lady of Fatima. At SES, valuable friendships were formed and remained

until the end of her life. Alhina centered her life on her faith, friends, and family. She had a life-long devotion to Our Lady of Fatima. Her life was her family. In the Azores, Alhina, being one of seven children, started to work at seventeen to help offset

her family's limited means. In Toronto, where she lived with her husband and children for six years, she worked at a company

that made Christmas lights year-round. Soon after the family's arrival in Santa Clara in 1969, she found a job at HP in Cupertino

and was employed there for over twenty years. Because of her industrious nature, she took pride in being a working person.

She loved flowers, the brighter the better. An avid walker, even in her seventies, and took daily walks lasting more than an hour. Mae, todos os dias vamos sentir a sua falta.

Visitation will be Wed. Jan. 25 from 6 to 7 p.m., with Rosary and Funeral Mass at 7 p.m. at Five Wounds Portuguese

National Church, 1375 E Santa Clara St. in San Jose.

Entombent will be Thurs. Jan. 26 at 11 a.m. in Santa Clara Mission Cemetery.