1930 – 2015

WESTBROOK — Magdalena Moreno of South Portland died Monday, Aug. 24.

She was born on Feb. 15, 1930, in La Calera Province of Cundinamarca, Colombia, S.A., to loving parents Luis A Tovar-Carreno and Magdalena Gomez-Salcedo. She was raised in a large Catholic family on a farm filled with love, kindness and unity. She attended parochial schools and graduated from college with a degree in anesthesiology.

Magdalena married Gilberto Moreno-Romero on Feb. 6, 1954, and they raised five children and immigrated to New York City in 1966, and then Maine in 1978, divorcing in 1987.

She enjoyed homemaking and caring for others. She became a certified nursing assistant and cared for the elderly in home care and nursing homes. She found comfort and strength in her faith, heritage and love for family. Her greatest joy and pride was her time with family. She was very close to her parents and honored them, nursing them until their deaths, which were, coincidentally, one year apart on the same day.

She loved to tell passionate stories over photos, her life and family, to comfort, to magically distract an anxious trip to the doctor, to entertain on trips, to visit relatives. Magdalena enjoyed letter-writing, ceramics, caring for heirlooms, scrapbooking, cooking, long car drives, walks in the mall and watching “Dancing with the Stars.”

On Feb. 15, 1986, she had a massive heart attack, and doctors said she probably wouldn’t survive. Four months later, she had open-heart bypass and reconstructive surgery. She was told no one lived more than 10 years after the procedure. With this daunting prediction, she took a path of renewal in her health and stubbornly proved them wrong and continued to work and volunteer. She was independent, and lived at Betsy Ross House in South Portland. In her final months of life, she was cared for by the kind and compassionate doctors, nurses, nursing assistants and countless other staff and volunteers at Springbrook Center nursing home in Westbrook.

Magdalena leaves behind Peggy, widow of son, Alvaro, and their two children, Alexis and Aric, and Al’s children, Christy, her husband, Andrew, Christina and Christopher; son, Andre and wife, Jean, of Dover-Foxcroft, and their two children, Adam, partner Selena of Westbrook, Jessica and husband, Brandon, of Westbrook; daughter Elvira and husband, William Else, of South Carolina, and their two daughters, Samantha of Los Angeles and Madison of South Carolina; son, Gilbert and his daughter, Olivia, of Portland; and son, Daniel and wife, Judi, and their daughter, Ana of Auburn. She also leaves behind three great-grandchildren; a brother, Bernardo; sisters, Blanca and Maria and families, Elsa, widow of brother, Jesus and family, the family of deceased brother Luis and his wife, Cecilia.

She was also predeceased by sister, Carmen.