Lillian Ramirez (Theophanis):  

Today, March 5, 2011, I began updating my profile. I am not quite done. I am now 72 yrs. old, my grandchildren are 14 & 10, and older daughter Lynne is back in her 2nd year of post-graduate study, working for her Master's degree. Kristen still works at a manufacturing company in Triple Cities. On Nov. 25, 2010, I had the pleasure of having Richard's son &his family, as well as my children & grandchildren over for Thanksgiving dinner. We also got together for Christmas & New Year's. It was great fun. I will share photos with you soon. It is early in the wee hours of the morning. I will return to this pleasant task as soon as I can. This much I know, after all the reminiscing during this update, I would very much like to attend this year's class reunion. I hope I can make it happen. Lily Ramirez Theophanis :^) _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Richard & I have been together for 29 yrs. His main activities since he retired in June, 2010 have been to cut the firewood needed for our long winter, repair and winterize the house. He enjoys hunting & fishing, and NASCAR races. He is a red-blooded Pennsylvania boy. He is a homebody and likes nothing better than hanging around the house He'd like me to do the same. But I'm too much of a people person. So I continue to attend church, go to the mtgs. of the three orgs on whose boards I serve, and the musical programs that my grandchildren participate in. I also get together with daughters Lynne & Kristen for lunch or a walk as often as I can. About 18 months ago, I fulfilled my girlhood dream of, one day, returning to my old practice of drawing. Warren, a member of my church, has taught me & several other members many new fun & interesting techniques. Our class is called The Zen of Drawing. One of this year's highlights was the purchase of a new lovely aloe green Camry, made possible by the settling of my Pop's & stepmother's estate last year, one of the most difficult things I have ever done. Not only was the work of clearing the house of its contents, after listing it for sale in a depressed economy, difficult. The details of acting as Executrix, accounting for all income and expenses, & making sure that my siblings received their fair share of the proceeds of the house sale were daunting. The day of stepmother Jennie's funeral I took a serious fall that left me with contusions and a lot of pain, for which I had to have many weeks of therapy. This year's challenges have included a torn rotator cuff, related to last year's accident, and a condition diagnosed as peripheral neuropathy. I have been tested and it has been determined that I don't have the worst conditions associated with the neuropathy. But the cause is yet undetermined. I plan to have additional tests done after the holidays. A drug has been added to my blood pressure meds to minimize the symptoms. I have decided to put off the surgery recommended for the torn cuff until the pain gets much worse. In February 22, 2008, I did some celebrating. After many years of thinking about and searching for my Kindergarten and 1st grade classmates, I found them through serendipity, persistence and a good woman who cared enough to connect me with some of my classmates, one of whom was her husband and father of 3 of her children, by then deceased. I also thank the woman who posted the graduation announcement of my 1st grade class. I was so thrilled about this since I had longed for this reunion throughout my childhood, teen years and later as an adult. My Mom, Lillian Diaz Ramirez, was the one who, throughout my childhood, answered my questions about our family's exodus from Ponce, Puerto Rico. We followed my Pop to NYC, so that we would be close to his Army headquarters in NJ, where he pursued his military career as a combatant and later as an officer in the US Army during WWII and the Korean conflict. Mom helped me to keep my vivid memories alive. We often repeated the stories about people and events I still remembered long after we moved to NYC. Mom and I recalled: our house at #18 Calle Guadalupe and anecdotes of events that took place there; the family church, Parroquia La Virgen Milagrosa, and memories of my 2nd baptism there at age 4; a walk after church service behind a flagillante; the bridge and road to my grandmother Maria Ruíz Díaz' house and the barbecue of a piglet; the walk to my school, Liceo Ponceno, during which one day we saw a group of bulls walking in the middle of the street, and being frightened half to death about the bulls coming after me in my red dress; the plaza and cathedral where my Grandma took me for walks, the Teatro La Perla, where Mom and I watched movies of Jorge Negrete, beloved Mexican screen hero, and Cantínflas (of Around the World in 80 Days fame); the military parade led by the WACS with Ms. Pietri, sister of my principal, leading their march, the 1st time I saw a woman with a male haircut; and world-renowned Cantinflas himself riding on top of a car, waving his hand as he passed our house. After arriving in NYC, Tití Teresa arranged to have me attend Mother Cabrini Elementary School, a private girls' school, to avoid being left back by the parochial school because of my limited English skills. Mother Ursula arranged to have a bilingual student sit next to me so that I could learn the language quickly. Among my lovely little tutors were Jean Darts, Helene Gary & Dorothy Boesenberg. And I did learn from them, well enough, within 6 months, to get by. English became one of my favorite subjects and linguistics remains so to this day. I also loved geography, history & civics. And, of course, music and art were a delight. I did well in school with many A's until my eyes became myopic at the age of 10 or 11. Then, the D's started to show up in my report card, much to the chagrin of Mom, aunts, and Pop when he found out. Tití Teté looked into it and found out I could no longer read the blackboard in order to take the necessary notes. One or two trips to the military eye doctor and I had my first pair of eyeglasses. "My years at Cabrini were a bit intimidating as some of the nuns were very strict and I was very shy. But I still remember some teachers with much affection: Miss O'Terry, lovely, kind 2nd grade teacher; Mother Rose, tall, thin, Irish, red-cheeked, happy -go-lucky 3rd grade teacher; Mother Fede, tomboyish, very dedicated & smart; Mother Catherine, diminutive, Italian, cute, bright English teacher; Mother Sabina, tiny, Brooklyn accent, very funny high school teacher; Mother George, strict with a twinkle in her eye, Math teacher; Mother Eleanor, strict Latin teacher who pronounced my first name in a very irritating way, and which I had to tolerate for 4 yrs; and of course Mother Ursula, principal and science teacher, who demanded so much from us lazy girls, who often scared me silly, and once slapped me when I lied. "Mother Ursula lived to be 104, at least. She was still working on writing a book when she passed. I saw her one more time when the school started to do outreach to alumni and I attended a school reunion. I also saw my best friend during grade school, Dorothy Boesenberg, who traveled to and from school with me almost every day for several years, sometimes by train or bus, sometimes on foot." There were many rules to follow at Cabrini and I was a slow moving girl. Mother Rose once called me the "Last Rose of Summer". But I loved learning and I worked hard, at least most of the time. Those were the days when you had 3-4 hours of homework per night and longer reports on weekends. I especially loved the pomp and circumstance of special events that we would celebrate, like May Day, Mother Ursula's feast day, and four plays that were performed each year; the lovely singing and classical music that we were exposed to and some of us learned to perform; the oratory classes for chosen students...I was not chosen, but those that were excelled and competed throughout NYC; the intramural basketball and cheer-leading, in which I did participate. Being called the class artist when I graduated from 8th grade was a surprise. Outstanding Cabrini graduation ceremonies were attended by many people in that Washington Heights neighborhood, whether they had a child in the school or not. The marches along 5th Avenue earned Cabrini many medals, then and since. My own two graduations from 8th and 12th grades stand out in my memory because of their academic excellence and a program filled with beautiful musical performances. I still remember the excitement of that last day together with my Cabrini sisters, many of whom I had known since 2nd grade, and the sadness that I would likely never see them again. Such were the social strictures of the day.... on to college or a job, with very few means of communication. The next time I saw some of them again was many years later at our first reunion. I did see Dorothy once in a subway station when I a...Expand for more