I was meandering online this morning when I came upon the obituary of a woman who died a couple years ago.
I was struck by its simplicity — the spare way it summed up a life. I’ve removed her last name and re-lined the obituary to highlight its poetic sense. Hope you like it …
GUADALUPE
March 16, 1913 – March 5, 2011
Born in Zacatecas, Mexico, Guadalupe was the mother of 7 children.
She came to the U.S. in 1945 and raised her family in Los Angeles
With her husband, Luis , to whom she was married 77 years.
Up until the last days of her life
She lived in her home on Sichel Street in Lincoln Heights.
She loved her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren deeply.
All of us will miss her.
Simple, clean life, it would appear–and, yes, poetic. But the obituary’s uncomplicated appearance on the surface only ignites my imagination to fill in all the spaces between the given facts. The kids, the work, the dramas, all the achaques de la vida, as my Mexican grandmother would say. She too lived in Lincoln Heights, then moved to “Frogtown” (Elysian Valley) next to the L.A. River. Reading about Guadalupe brought my own abuelita to life, so some of the obit’s blanks were happily filled in.
Lovely.