by Marvin J. Ramírez
Emelina Talavera de Bensen 1903-2007
At dawn of Sunday Dec. 2, the sky was opened to receive the soul of beloved Mrs. Emelina Talavera-Bensen to be received by the Creator. She passed at her Daly City home at the age of 104.
Originary of Department of Jinotega, Nicaragua, Mrs. Talavera-Bensen disembarked at San Francisco Embarcadero in 1927, during the era of General Augusto César Sandino and when the U.S. marines started the occupation of Nicaragua.
A civil war had erupted between liberal rebels under General José María Moncada (1868-1945) and the government under President Adolfo Diaz, who requested and received military assistance from the United States. In 1927, US warships arrived and landed some 2,000 Marines and material. Angry at North American interference in Nicaraguan affairs, Sandino joined the war, engaging in guerrilla actions against the gringos (white foreigners).
“She came single, and here she found the doctor (her husband) and got married,” said Auxiliadora Mendoza, 71, who took care of her during her last 10 years, without taking any vacation or holiday off.
“A woman who did things on her own… we prayed together, she was called for my Mariíta, she was a very polite woman, with great culture, she went to all kinds of parties, she liked dancing… God blessed her to me with a lot of health until water in the lungs stopped her heart,” said Mendoza, who is also from Nicaragua.
Mrs. Talavera-Bensen, who never lost lost her mental lucidity in spite of her advanced age, did not go to the hospital since in her medical needs she was cared of in her house, where nuns, the Kaiser Hospital nurses, and staff from the ‘ospicio’ were a marvel with her … the neighbors loved her very much, said Mendoza.
