Ofelia Tapia Alonso

1970-2020

Ofelia was born in Mexico. She loved lilies and walking and the color red. She was fifty years old, with five children and three grandchildren. She told her daughters to never give up hope and to always look for the lessons put before us. Ofelia was not afraid to live.

She immigrated with her children and worked so hard to take care of them in the United States. She was a domestic worker and owned her own neighborhood corner store. She was so generous and loving to everyone she met. Her dream was to work for herself and help her children fulfill their dreams. She would do anything for them.

When the pandemic started, Ofelia’s children tried to protect her. They still don’t know how she got sick. She was in the hospital for over a month. The doctors didn’t know what to do. The virus destroyed Ofelia’s organs and left her bedridden. Ofelia smiled at her children with tears in her eyes before she died. She let them know life would go on without her.

Her children still can’t believe that she is gone. Sometimes, her daughter says, she imagines Ofelia is just at work. That she will walk through the door at the end of the day.

She tries to see this as one of the lessons put before her. Just as Ofelia taught her to do.

Listen to Ofelia’s daughter pay tribute to her mother’s love.
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