Lucia Pinon

I was asked by my sisters to write an Obituary for “Mami” as we always called her.But how do I accomplish this “final” task on behalf of this incredible woman that was our mother? I am afraid that my words are woefully inadequate and could never convey all there is to say about her. 

Sara Lucia Pinon Suarez was born in Havana, Cuba on December 13th, 1930. She did not like to be called Sara though and always preferred Lucia. She was an only child and she often told me that one of her biggest regrets was not having siblings and that she grew up feeling very lonely with no one at home to share experiences with. She told me that when the time came, God willing, she would have several children so that they would not be alone growing up. From my perspective that was her first right decision since I now have two sisters that comfort and help me during difficult times.

During her teenage years, her family experienced financial difficulty and she was forced to work at a young age, in order to supplement the family’s income. She told me that this experience taught her a lot about life and sacrifice, it also motivated her to seek a profession that would provide her prestige and financial security. It was then and with the encouragement of her parents that she decided to attend medical school and become a medical doctor.  This was no easy accomplishment in the 1950s in a male-oriented Hispanic society and profession. The fact that she succeeded is a testament to her as an individual.

It was during her medical school career that she met our dad and her first husband, Rosendo, who was also a medical student.  After graduation from medical school, both Lucia and Rosendo came to the US to undergo post-graduate medical training. Sometime after, missing family and country they decided to return to Cuba.  This was a decision they would come to regret.

Cuba underwent a Communist Revolution under Fidel Castro, this made living conditions for the family intolerable. Mami knew that staying in Cuba would mean the moral and financial ruin of her family and their futures, and very specifically her children.  She made the courageous decision to leave Cuba forever and bring her family to the U.S., seeking the liberty and prosperity of what is now, our great country.  In doing, so she knew that she might never be able to return to Cuba and her beloved culture.  She nevertheless put her family’s futures first. 

Leaving Cuba came at great personal and emotional cost.  Our family would have to leave all family ties and personal posessions behind, and start from zero.  At the time, the US did not accept immigrants without assurance of financial support by a close family memberor friend who would be willing to sign a financial support affidavit. She was able to secure an affidavit from a close friend she had made in the US while undergoing her training. This was only part of the solution, once out of Cuba, she would need financial support for her and her children until she was able to start work. This meant she would have to transfer money in the black market from Cuba to a secure source in the US as well as to secure promises of financial support from her US contacts. But this was not all, once she announced her plans to leave Cuba, she was branded by the government there as a “Maggot” or "gusano" which is their derogatory term for those who did not agree with their Socialists ideas and were considered undesirables. She was fired from her job as Chief Medical Officer of the Children’s Hospital in Havana and struggled to survive for the next three years, using the black market, trading medical presciptions for food for her children among, alcohol to the Russians for shoes, as an example.  Ultimately, she was able to leave with her three children bound for Madrid, Spain. Her husband Rosendo was not allowed to leave with the rest of the family. This meant that she travelled to an unknown country, with nothing but pledged support, as a single mother of 3 children under 14, in 1968.  She managed to keep us all healthy and safe, securing living arrangements, clothing, and basic needs.

After a year in Spain, she finally was able to bring her family to the US and eventually secure a position as house physician in a large psychiatric hospital in Kankakee, Illinois.  In her spare time of working full time and being a single mother to her 3 children, she studied for her medical licensure exams. Fortunately, months later, she was joined by her parents who had also travelled from Cuba, Spain and the US, and eventually her husband Rosendo about a year later which helped with raising the family.

Her challenges did not stop there however.  One day while walking through the hallway at the psychiatric hospital, she was brutally attacked and almost killed by one of the patients.  She suffered severe head injuries and a concussion. She survived her injures and eventually returned to work and to her family.  Both her and our father Rosendo were able to pass their licensure exams and the family decided to move to Florida where our parents established a medical practice in the Tampa Bay area.

As the children grew up and life’s challenges crept in, her marriage to our father did not survive and they decided to divorce.  It was around this time that she went into practice by herself  She was over 49 at the time.  Like everything she did, Lucia built a very successful medical practice where she practiced for many years. During this time, she raised her three children and with the help of our father ensured that we all secured a good education and a career.  Her mantra during our growing years was that our education would be her legacy to us. 

After finally achieving sufficient financial security, she was finally able to realize one of her life’s ambitions which was to travel the world. Her travels took her all over the world, she did things and went places that we can only dream of during our lifetime.  It was also around this time that Lucia purchased her cabin in Blue Ridge, Georgia.  Over the years this place would become a place of love, joy, fun, and respite for her as well as her children, grandchildren and visitors. She kept a book at the cabin where she would always ask her guests to write their comments about their stay there.  Reading these entries that were written over the years, tells us a lot about Lucia and what she accomplished there. Her goal of providing peace, tranquility, and happiness to all those who stayed there was evident by the written testimony of those pages.

Lucia’s life entered a new chapter when she reunited with an old friend, and then married her second husband, Alberto Quintana. Alberto and Lucia had known each other since they were teens in Havana.  Sometimes they would go to teen events together.  Destiny brought them together so many years later and they decided to marry. The next few years were some the happiest of her life.  She and Alberto traveled extensively all over the world and they spent a lot of time in the cabin in Blue Ridge.

Eventually, Alberto and she retired and continued to enjoy traveling around the world and spending summers at Blue Ridge and winters in Florida. Retiring from her practice was a double edge sword for Lucia.  She enjoyed her medical practice immensely, she was loved and appreciated by her patients and her staff. Years later she told me many times that retiring was one of her worst decisions because when she was working she always felt she had a purpose in life and was appreciated better by others.  She would always tell me “don’t ever retire”.

Every story has a beginning and an end and so it was for Mami.  Sadly her husband became very ill, and couldn’t travel with her anymore.  Eventually, he was so ill, that he had to be taken cared of in nursing home facility where he eventually passed away.  Alberto’s illness and confinement to a nursing facility and later death caused much anguish for our mother.  She was alone once again, something that had terrified her all her life.  With the added responsibility of having to oversee Alberto's well being and financial responsibilities.  However, during these times she was not deterred from making the best out of her life.

Now alone once more, she continued to travel all over the world, many times by herself or sometimes with friends. She also continued to spend time in Blue Ridge, although this time no longer in the company of Alberto.  Time passed as it always does, and Lucia grew older and with age came mounting medical problems and loss of energy and mobility.  Eventually, she was unable to travel and was no longer able to spend time in her beloved cabin in Blue Ridge.   Her children, during the last years of her life saw some sad events. Since she could no longer travel, she was forced to sell her cabin in Blue Ridge, a place that was full off amily memories. In addition, she continued to deteriorate physically and mentally until her passing.  Her story would not be complete without mentioning my sister Terrie. During the last difficult years of Lucia’s life, it was Terrie who stood like a rock by her side tending to her every and sometimes very difficult needs.  She stood by during her illnesses and hospitalizations. She helped manage Lucia’s household needs when she was no longer able to. Eventually when Lucia could no longer live alone at home, it was Terrie who gave up her bedroom and moved Lucia into it where she languished for over a year when she was bedridden and under hospice care. I know it wa sdifficult for Terrie having strangers coming in and out of the house 24 hours a day,but she had made a promise to her mom that she would never commit her to a nursing facility and she kept her promise to the end. I am not sure my sister Liana or I could have had the fortitude for this, but Terrie did and she deserves a lot of credit and praise for it. 

During her entire life, Mami always pushed her kids to be successful.  She always cared and loved us all. She loved all her grandchildren and grandchildren, and she was incredibly proud of what she accomplished as a person. I know she did the best she could do to be the best daughter, wife, doctor, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.

We will all miss Lucia, my mother. We will miss her loving embrace, her kisses, and her good motherly advice on life’s many problems always. And yes, we will also miss her admonishing us.  Her entire adult life was lived, with the goal of putting her children's future first.  I think we can all agree that she accomplised her goal, and she did it her way.