Desanka Mitrovich

Desanka Mitrovich, known to all as "Desa," died peacefully in her San Diego home on May 23, 2020 from complications of lymphoma and Covid-19. She was 95 years old. Desa was the consummate force of nature, full of wit, grace, and fierce love for her family--which was everything to her. She had an unwavering commitment to her values, her friends, and to living her life exactly on her own terms. She was a clearly etched persona, garnered universal respect and left an indelible impression on all who knew her. Everyone has a Desa story. She was also smart, gorgeous, sang beautifully, loved the Kennedys, the Lakers and Russia, and had boundless curiosity. She just didn't suffer fools. Desa was born in Sveti Stefan, on the shores of the Adriatic Sea in (then) Yugoslavia in 1924. She was the oldest of four children. With her family and broad community she endured the enormous privations of World War II, including a fascist occupation as well as losing a beloved sister to tuberculosis. Yet despite these unspeakable difficulties, Desa managed to support her family while also joining the resistance movement in her country--a loyalty she never abandoned. After the war, Desa became a school teacher. Her first posting was in a small, impoverished village on the mountain Durmitor where she lived in a tiny, freezing room and taught mostly orphaned children. Desa later spoke of her awareness that giving these children the love and support for which they were starved was perhaps the most important part of her duties. After her posting in the mountains, Desa eventually became the mistress of a one-room school house at the monastery Praskvica, overlooking Sveti Stefan. Praskvica was her domain for many years. In addition to teaching, her duties included enforcing hygiene, discipline, morality lectures and lice-checks. She was tough and demanding. Yet, her students, now adults living far and wide, remember her with love and reverence. In 1960, Desa undertook one of her biggest challenges. She left her siblings and her native land, crossed the ocean and the length of the US, moving to San Diego to join her parents and to start her next chapter. In doing so, she not only learned a new language and created a new life from whole cloth, she also attended and graduated from San Diego State--the first person in her family to go to college. After she earned her degree, Desa began work at the SDSU library where she remained until she retired decades later. At State, Desa made countless friends and became an institution at the library truly loved by all who knew her. All the while she lived with and cared for her mother, traveled with friends throughout America, made numerous visits back home to (now) Montenegro and volunteered with her church, Saint George's in San Diego. More than anything Desa became the fulcrum in her family circle and keeper of her family's stories. She stayed in constant touch with her cousins, nieces, nephews and their extended families all over Europe and the US. She especially adored her brother Milo and her sister Beba and their families. Beba's and Milo's children and grandchildren were, to Desa, simply perfect. We grew up basking in the intense glow of her love and unshakable devotion. We will miss her beyond measure. Desa was predeceased by her father Risto, her mother Zorka, her brother Milo and her sister Milica. She is survived by her sister Beba, her sister-in-law Yelena, her nieces Zorica and Milica, her nephews Risto and Vanja, by a number of grandnieces, grandnephews and a vast loving extended family. She is also remembered with love by her devoted caregivers Julie and Rosie. A funeral service will be held for immediate family on Friday May 29, 2020, and a broader memorial celebrating Desa's life will be held at a future date.