Remembering Blanca

On January 26, this world lost a very special person, Bert's grandmother Blanca. Not much was said about her life itself during her service, so for her memory and for Bert, I thought I would say it here.

Born Blanca Rosa Gonzales in Cuba, Grandma was an artist at heart. She was an art teacher before leaving Cuba and moving to the United States. Her brother lived in New York and was able to help move their family here before it became overtaken by Castro. She loved her siblings and was especially proud of her brother Pastor, who was a famous priest.


I treasure each painting she gave to me and Bert. Nearly every room in our house and even my office at work has her artwork proudly on display. My favorites are below:




She was an incredibly generous spirit. We rarely left her house without a painting in hand, although we often protested that we didn't want her walls to be empty. She must've known that her life was winding down to give us what she did.

Bert's grandmother and his grandfather were married over 60 years. Grandma was 91 when she passed. Each year on her birthday, she would thank God for blessing her with another year. Grandma and Grandpa showed me love from the moment I joined Bert's family. With open arms they greeted me. I pray that God blesses them both richly for that. I could never thank them enough for what they were - familia, as Bert's grandfather called it. Family in every sense.

From Grandma, I learned how to play dominoes. Although her English became more broken over the years, I could still make out enough of what she said to carry on a conversation. And even when Alzheimer's took over and she could do little more than smile, kindness still radiated from her being.

Like I said, she was an artist. And she was a lady. With an artist's soul, she painted not only beautiful portraits, but she left everything in her life a little better than she found it. Including me. And boy, oh boy, did she love her Albert Manuel. Her favorite. My favorite too.

Labels: Bert, family