Edna Vazquez Wehby

EDNA VÁZQUEZ WEHBY passed from this life on Sunday, October 29th, with her children at her side. She was born on May 24, 1926, to Margarita Rios y Rios and Rafael Vázquez Rubio in Havana, Cuba, a city and country that captured her heart, and to which she always wished to return.

She graduated from El Instituto del Vedado, and worked at jobs that depended on her command of both Spanish and English, such as at the Western Union Telegraph Office in Havana. She was married for 57 years to George Abdo Wehby, until he passed away in 2011.

A good word to describe her was “vivacious”. She had a great sense of rhythm and loved to dance at parties and events, as well as playing a variety of traditional Cuban percussion instruments, such as claves and maracas. She had a beautiful singing voice which she put to use with the “Osvaldo Farrés Choir” in Cuba, and with her friends and family at informal gatherings and sing-alongs. She enjoyed travelling and had the opportunity to visit much of the United States, Europe, and South America. She learned Italian, which she enjoyed speaking during her trips to Italy.

Her major interest was her family, including her children and her many uncles and cousins, near and far. She was active in the life of her children, doing mother-daughter modeling, was President of the PTA, worked at the school shop that sold school supplies to students, and cheerfully hosted their many social events. She organized an extensive and lovely genealogical book of her many relatives, providing a foundation for further genealogy studies by her children. In addition to these activities, she liked to work outside the home, and for a time had her own interior decorating business and was also a legal secretary for many years. She always said, however, that she was happiest when surrounded by her children: “mis pollitos”.

She is survived by her children, Jorge Adan Wehby, Carlos Gerardo Wehby and Ana Cosío, Tania Fernández de Reyes and Eduardo José Reyes Santiago, Richard George Wehby and Anne Armour Wolf, Edna Wehby Lopez, and William Ralph Wehby, and her many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. There will be a viewing service at Caballero Rivero Westchester Funeral Home, 8200 Bird Road, Miami, FL 33155, on Friday, November 3, from 6—10 p.m. Funeral cortege will depart Caballero on Saturday, November 4th at 11:30 a.m. for a graveside service and internment at Woodlawn Park Cemetery South, 11655 SW 117th Avenue, Miami, FL 33186. The family requests that in lieu of flowers contributions be made to the Parkinson’s Foundation (Miami, Fla.) or to the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America (New York, NY), or to similar charities.