Yvette.Elizabeth Graulau (nee Portal), 74, passed away January 21 2022 at South Florida Baptist Hospital in Plant City, Florida. Yvette was born in Manhattan, New York and loved to say she was a latin from Manhattan. Yvette hated the question what is your race and would always answer human being. Yvette retired after 20 years with the Hillsborough Public School System as an English as a Second Language teacher. Yvette loved working with children from all over the world and was extremely passionate spending time after school to help her students. Yvette enjoyed outdoor activities starting with camping and fishing. She was an avid saltwater fisher person especially for kingfish out in the Gulf of Mexico. Yvette was the center of her families activities she loved to cook and always had a ready smile for any one who crossed her path. She had two natural children, Omar the eldest and Aaron the baby. Yvette also acquired a daughter thru osmosis, Gladys. Yvette loved travel and was able to see a good part of this world from Egypt, Sudan, Kuwait and Dubai to Mexico and eight Caribbean countries. Yvette went deep into the jungles of the Peten in northern Guatemala to visit Tikal. And also, Venezuela, Peru and Argentina.
Yvette was preceded in death by her parents, Ruben Portal and Otilia Marty of Tampa, Florida. Yvette leaves behind her sister, Magda Hodge of Tampa, Florida; sons, Raffel Omar Graulau of Tampa, Aaron Felipe Graulau of Hot Springs, Ark.; daughter, Gladys Colon Mercado of Cleveland, Ohio; granddaughter, Nikkole Andrews of Tampa, Florida. Yvette also leaves her husband of 54 years and boyfriend for 6 years before marriage, Rafael Roman Graulau.
A funeral service for Yvette will be held 3:30 p.m. Saturday, February 5, 2022 at Blount & Curry Funeral Home at Garden of Memories, 4207 East Lake Avenue, Tampa, FL 33610. A Graveside Service will be held 10 a.m. Monday, February 7, 2022 in Sarasota National Cemetery, 9810 State Highway 72, Sarasota, FL 34241. The family will receive friends Saturday from 2-4 p.m. at the funeral home.
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