By Minda Madrinan, NJ

Laura and I became members of the Paetenians, NE about the same time. She had been an active member of the Paetenians Northeast since the first time I met her.

We had the chance to visit her and her family in Philadelphia because it has been a tradition to hold a meeting at their house every year during the month of August. We have been beneficiaries of her hospitality and good cooking.

What struck me about her was that she was a family woman. But I got another glimpse of this only lately. During the sermon at the funeral mass, I learned something about Laura I didn’t know before. The preacher said of her: Her eyes were set on bringing her family to the US to give her children a better future. In the meantime, she sacrificed and worked in Saudi Arabia where the pay was good to save some money.

I remember Laura in a special way. In August of 1998, our group did not make the annual trip Pennsylvania due to conflict of schedules. But my family made it. The choir where my husband sings had an engagement at the Convention Center in Philadelphia. Unwilling to drive early in the morning of that Sunday, we decided to go to Philadelphia the night before and stayed over at the Villarin’s house. We remembered Berting and Laura’s open invitation.

We drove to Philadelphia that Saturday evening. There was the familiar Laura we knew very well --- entertaining us and fixing us dinner.

She bid farewell that same evening because she was going to have dialysis and won’t be able to see us in the morning when we left. Berting fixed our breakfast, but we knew that Laura was awake and knew what was going on but couldn’t move because she was in bed undergoing dialysis.

I realize how short life is. Laura was alive in August 1998. Laura was dead in November 1998. We had the chance to see her for the last time just before the Funeral Mass. Apparently a break from American tradition; her coffin was open until before the Mass for people to view. We were choking with emotions. It was hard to believe that she was dead.

Our attendance was a bittersweet experience. While we mourned her death, we celebrated the beautiful memory of this lovely person.

She was a strong woman. I have seen her stoically accept her sickly condition without complaining at all. I guess that her long years at the ICU prepared her to accept imminent death with calm. She was the only person I knew of who was able to look at sickness and deathly purely clinically.

Seeing her lying in a coffin brought back the memory of the many visits we had in their old and new house in Philadelphia. Also the memory of the many parties, meetings and events we attended also flashed back to my memory