Hilda (Emilia) Bolet Dunn was born and raised in Havana, Cuba. She moved to the U.S. when she was 17. Even though she spent most of her life here, her accent never faded. She had such a beautiful accent and a warm, loving voice. She explained to me once why she sometimes would speak more slowly was because she had to translate her thoughts from Spanish into English before speaking. I always thought that was amazing.
She was so proud of where she came from and wanted me to be proud of my Cuban heritage also. Every summer, when Clare and I would visit her, she would sit us down at least once to tell us more about Havana and the rest of the country. At the time, I wasn't completely interested and looking back I wish I would have soaked up every minute of that special time together. When I was in Jr. High I had to do a book report on a foreign country, so I chose Cuba. She was delighted and even sent me a whole book on Cuba! Then, in High School, I took Spanish all four years and she was so proud. Once I had to do an interview completely in Spanish, so I called her in Florida and you could tell in her voice how thrilled she was that I chose her to interview.
I'm named Hilda Ann because up until I was born they thought I was a boy. So, when I popped out a girl, they didn't have any names picked out. So, I'm named after both my Grandmas. Hilda is my dad's mom's first name and Ann is my mom's mom's middle name. It was no secret that I was Grandma Hilda's favorite grandchild because we shared her name- she never actually said anything like that, she's too kind for that. But, even at her funeral, all us grandkids got to talking about it. And because I was her namesake (as she often called me in her letters), she always called me Hilda Annie. The rest of the world was calling me Annie, but to Grams I was always Hilda Annie. For most of my life, I hid the fact that my first name was Hilda, except when it came to Grams. I loved that she called me Hilda Annie.
This is a story I wasn't actually present for, but it was told to me by my Aunt Emilia at Grams' funeral. Once Grams got so sick and she was in the hospital and we knew her time was near, all her children flew out to be with her. By this time, she could no longer speak, but she was still fully congniscent and aware of everything around her. This was in March of 2006 and Jason and I were already working on our plans for our mission trip to Africa that September. Grams was so excited for this great opportunity for us. At some point, the family was sitting around discussing out upcoming trip, but no one could remember where we were going. They kept saying Kenya and finally Grams took a piece of paper and wrote out 'Rwanda', which is where we were going. I can't figure out why, but this story touched me so deeply. Even in her last days, she was thinking about me (and everyone else in her family) and it breaks my heart.
My heart is still broken at the fact that she never got to meet Jason, even though she knew all about him. We had several long discussions about him and what it took to make a relationship work. She always told me the key to any good relationship is communication. She couldn't have been more right about that. It also breaks my heart everytime I think about my little Emilia. Grams would have been absolutely elated to find out we were using her middle name for our baby girl. It almost brings me to tears to know Emilia will never know completely how special her namesake truly is. One thing I wish for is a picture of the Hilda's and Emilia's in our family and it's so sad that Grams can't be a part of that.
I know she's looking down on me from Heaven and smiling all the time. She's probably grabbing Jesus' forearm (as she often did when she was talking to someone) as she tells him, see that, that's My Hilda Annie.
I love you Grams.
This is one of the pictures taken on my last visit to Grams' house before she passed away.
4 comments:
goodness! trying to choke back the tears but not succeeding too well. turd.
but a beautiful story. and she knows another namesake in on the way. i love visualizing her and jesus, sitting there chatting, with such joy and love in here eyes.
okay. i've got to find something funny to read so i can stop crying.
im sure she is so proud of you and that beaufiful baby you are about to bring into this world.. Thank you for sharing sweet memories.. you brought tear to my eye and a smile to my face.. love is a wonderful thing, and your love for that sweet woman is inspiring..
how sweet!
she looks and sounds like she was too much fun.
I love the idea of having a "namesake"---
it bonds you to someone in a way that you can't create otherwise.
Dear Annie, I found this post quite by accident, and am so glad I could read about your love for Hilda. I worked for Hilda in the early 70's at UK. What a wonderful woman she was. It was hard for me to learn that she had passed, but not difficult to learn that she left a very loving family to remember her.
With deepest sympathy,
Janet R. Batik
Louisville, KY
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