AGE, LANGUAGE NO BARRIER FOR FRIENDSHIP.Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY Dennis McCarthy may refer to:
Happy Valentine's Day Valentine's Day: see Saint Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day Lovers' holiday celebrated on February 14, the feast day of St. Valentine, one of two 3rd-century Roman martyrs of the same name. St. and Happy 100th Birthday, Maria Gutierrez. The people who know you well tell me it's no coincidence that you were born on a day reserved for love. Your whole life has been one big Valentine's Day card, they say. Gloria Bianco, a nurse assistant at the ONE Intergenerational in·ter·gen·er·a·tion·al adj. Being or occurring between generations: "These social-insurance programs are intergenerational and all Center in Van Nuys, says she's never met anyone like you in all the years she's been caring for seniors and children. Since the first day you arrived seven years ago from a little farm in Ecuador after your husband died, you had a special touch when it came to making people feel wanted. The amazing a·maze v. a·mazed, a·maz·ing, a·maz·es v.tr. 1. To affect with great wonder; astonish. See Synonyms at surprise. 2. Obsolete To bewilder; perplex. v.intr. thing is that you do it without knowing how to speak English. "She's taught everyone here that love doesn't need language," Gloria said. Gloria had plenty of examples, but the story about Betty was especially good. How you looked across the activities room one day and saw a lonely, sad woman sitting there alone in her own world. Gloria said the next day she walked into the activities room you were sitting at Betty's side brushing her hair -- laughing and carrying on like you were old friends. "They were talking to Noun 1. talking to - a lengthy rebuke; "a good lecture was my father's idea of discipline"; "the teacher gave him a talking to" lecture, speech rebuke, reprehension, reprimand, reproof, reproval - an act or expression of criticism and censure; "he had to each other in different languages, but it didn't matter," Gloria said. How does someone born on Valentine's Day a century ago still have that kind of touch? Can't be coincidence. At lunchtime, Gloria said you always kept the seat next to you empty -- waiting for Betty to arrive so she wouldn't eat alone. You put a smile on her face and happiness in her heart, Maria. You made her feel wanted. That's a heck of a Valentine's gift. It's the same with the children at the center you help baby-sit a few days a week, said Denise Kee-White, social services social services Noun, pl welfare services provided by local authorities or a state agency for people with particular social needs social services npl → servicios mpl sociales manager. They gravitate grav·i·tate intr.v. grav·i·tat·ed, grav·i·tat·ing, grav·i·tates 1. To move in response to the force of gravity. 2. To move downward. 3. to you, call you grandma, she said. You talk to them with words they don't understand, but it doesn't matter. You're the one they run to hug and kiss. You're the one they fight over to sit in your lap. None of this surprises your granddaughter, Soraya Almora. She knows the story. How you raised six children on a small farm in Quito, Ecuador, with your late husband, Leopoldo -- fed your family a steady diet of homegrown home·grown adj. 1. Raised or grown at home. 2. Originating in or characteristic of a locality: "Rock is homegrown music in the United States, evolved from blues and country and Tin Pan Alley" food and love. Your children ate only what you grew, wore only what you sewed sew v. sewed, sewn or sewed, sew·ing, sews v.tr. 1. To make, repair, or fasten by stitching, as with a needle and thread or a sewing machine: with your own hands. And when they were fed and clothed clothe tr.v. clothed or clad , cloth·ing, clothes 1. To put clothes on; dress. 2. To provide clothes for. 3. To cover as if with clothing. , you gave any extra food and clothes to less-fortunate families. You were spreading those Valentine's gifts as a young mother 70 years ago, and you're still spreading them today at 100. Every weekday morning you wake up, dress yourself, eat breakfast and wait by the front door of your granddaughter's Van Nuys home, where you now live, for the bus to pick you up for school. "That's what grandma calls going to the ONE center -- going to school," Soraya said. "She can't wait to see the children and be with her friends, make sure they are all right. "We kid her that she was born on Valentine's Day because she had so much love to share. But you know what? It's true." It was no coincidence Maria Gutierrez was born 100 years ago on a day reserved for love. dennis.mccarthy(at)dailynews.com (818) 713-3749 CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Maria Gutierrez works on a Valentine's Day project alongside Sadie Albert and Ethan Glassman at the ONE Intergenerational Center in Van Nuys. Gutierrez, an immigrant from Ecuador, will turn 100 years old on Valentine's Day. Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer |
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