A touching memory of Felisa Silvan Medeiros

Felisa was only seven years old when she left Fuentesauco, Spain in the Province of Zamora with her older sister, Theodora (12) and her twin brothers, Celestino and Jacinto (age 5)...and her parents, Victorino Silvan Hernandez and Ramona Martin Lorenzo (Silvan). Over the past couple of years as I found each family member in the archives of history and through stories from descendants I have been lucky enough to connect with, the image of Felisa has grown into a girl and later a woman and I smile.

She always loved to dance. The Spanish people and my ancestors especially, had a penchant for music and dancing and she watched, learned, tapped her feet and eventually married a man named Seraphim Medeiros. He was known as "Joe" to many and as "Saa" to others (rhymes with Sam). In my story, MANUELA'S PETALS, which is a loving work in progress about my grandmother who was 9 at the time, just a bit older than Felisa when they left Spain as a familial group..... I am going to weave Felisa's love of music and dancing, a love I have always had myself and understand completely!

Her granddaughter remembers her dancing with her husband and I have many notes to help flesh Felisa out in my mind, although once she arrived in America, she was called "Alice" which made her a difficult one to find! She was a lovely woman who loved to laugh, cook, garden and enjoyed children. She had two boys, Melvin and Jerome. To her supreme sadness, she lost Melvin in WWII and probably never got over the pain. One never does.

Last week, an added memory from another descendant gave me another layer of human interest for Felisa --- Her cousin, whom we call Auntie Vicky -- Victoria from Hawaii --- told me of the many times the families got together, music, food, fun, conversation and there was Felisa and her husband --- watching others dance and laughingly pulling her husband upward with the often repeated litany, "Come on, Saa..... let's show them how it's done." This simple little statement once shared with Felisa's granddaughter, added more smiles to the memory of this woman whom I wish I'd known!! These little stories make our loved ones live on and on --- and with the musical background many of our Spanish ancestors share, the smiles from my desk just keep getting bigger and bigger!