Kaila Osuna

Kaila Dorothy Brooks was born November 27, 1935, in Worcester, Massachusetts, to loving parents Harry and Ethel Brooks. Dotty, as she was known by family, was adored by her parents, grandparents, and two older sisters, Martha and Shirley. She was an inspiration to her younger nieces and nephews, as well as, later on, to her great-nieces and nephews.

Her lifelong passion was acting, and as a teenager she acted in summer stock theater, traveling around the country performing. When she began acting, she went by the name Karla.

She moved to New York City, and stayed close with her family, busing home to Worcester on weekends to see her parents, sisters, and sisters' children, who looked up to her as an elder sibling, and also as a second mother.

She spent some time in Europe, working in London, and considered moving there, but didn't want to be that far from her aging parents, so she returned to New York. While working for the Merv Griffin Show, she met her beloved Orlando, a man of incredible goodness, who was welcomed and loved by her whole family.

In 1974, she gave birth to her daughter Ellen, and has been a loving mother to me ever since, doing the best she could and beyond. She and my Dad encouraged reading, singing, dancing, creativity, and Mom insisted I learn to type. When I was very little, I would make up stories, tell them to Mom, and she would write or type them up, and has saved them to this day. They moved from Manhattan to Eastern Queens so I could grow up with a backyard to play in, which I will be forever grateful for.

We visited family often. Mom loved returning to the two-family house she grew up in in Worcester, One Hartshorn Ave, where her older sister Martha still lived, with her wonderful husband Ben, who was a loving big brother to Mom.

Mom and Dad were a respected, active part of Temple Sholom in East Queens- in choir, Sisterhood / Brotherhood, and with theater productions. Mom's Jewish faith was an important structure for her, and shaped her positive outlook on life.

Mom was very active in community theater. Her characters were so full of life, it was incredible. The many roles she shined in included Grandma Tzeitel in Fiddler on the Roof, Aunt Eller in Oklahoma, Abby in Arsenic and Old Lace, and much more. The enthusiasm she gave her characters often made her the highlight of shows - even when she had smaller parts, her characters were unique and memorable. She was loved by all in community theater. And she still found time to volunteer with my school sometimes, helping with school plays.

With her attention to detail and impeccable organization, she returned to work after years as a full-time Mom (+ homemaker, + Temple / theater / school volunteer), editing "Who's Who" reference publications. She also volunteered to edit the playbills of community theater groups, which she loved, and helped her stay connected to the theater world after she stopped acting, devoted to taking care of my Dad while his Alzheimer's worsened.

Mom's caring was deep and generous. When Dad's sister Irma was in a nursing home, Mom and Dad visited several times a week, for years. Mom would feed Irma and help her exercise, and then would take care of Dad, whose mind was slowly fading. She was his support, his eyes, ears, his help in every way. She would direct him when driving, and when singing in the Temple Choir. And as he worsened, Mom's loving devotion continued to care for him.

Dad passed away on April 20, 2022. Mom missed him terribly. They were an adorable couple, and Dad's tremendous love for Mom was evident in many ways, from old letters he wrote to her, to his consistent expressions of care and concern.

In her elder years, Mom had cancer of the tongue, and lungs, and had multiple surgeries since 2017. Each surgery aged her a bit more, but she was resilient, and fought to stay healthy, recovering after each surgery. She would keep up her health and mobility by exercising often, making do with her living room, walking back and forth and lifting small weights while watching TV.

Her first surgery for oral cancer was in 2017. The cancer returned in 2019, and was again surgically removed. A few years later, still in remission, she was told it was unlikely her mouth cancer would return.

Her mouth remained cancer-free until 2024. In January 2024, a polyp in her mouth grew large enough to cause significant discomfort. In March, she had surgery to remove it, a more simple surgery than previous mouth surgeries she had endured.

The biopsy taken at the time showed a return of cancer, in a different, more aggressive form.

Facing cancer again, and told that it would not be viable to do another surgery, nor chemo, or typical radiation, Mom had limited choices from conventional, narrative-following medicine, which was the only type of medicine she trusted.

In the winter of 2017 / 2018, Mom had had post-surgery radiation on her mouth, and she tolerated it well. This time, told she couldn't do the same radiation again, she chose to go ahead with a more intense, shorter duration therapy of radiosurgery. We were told it would cause some pain in her mouth for several weeks afterwards.

After the radiosurgery, her mouth hurt her a lot, not for weeks, but for months, and didn't stop hurting. The downsides were minimized of what life may be like after radiosurgery. Despite pain medicine, which caused other problems, she suffered terrible pain, which led her to decide she wanted to leave this world.

When Mom puts her determination behind something, she gets it done, and her last act of will was bringing about astoundingly rapid decline, so she would no longer be in pain.

On October 11th, 2024, Mom passed away. She was at the Hospice Inn in Melville, Long Island. She went there on October 9th, after an assessment for what we thought would be home hospice recommended she go there to get her pain under control. When I last saw her, Thursday, October 10th, she was finally out of pain, and, for the first time, not mentally sharp. She retained her mind, vision, and mobility until a moment before the very end.

Mom loved stories, all her life. Her nightly activity was watching movies or musicals, usually on Turner Classic Movies. She could retell every detail of an interesting movie, lighting up with enthusiasm. Among her many favorite movies / shows were Les Miserables, West Side Story, The Help, The Green Book, As Good As It Gets, and many more. And, of course, Downton Abbey. Long ago, she gave me the book by George Orwell, 1984.

And yet, Mom missed that she was living through the most intense and consequential story to affect almost all of humanity at once. With the same themes as always, the villains manipulating the people, with weaponized compassion, to think that the good ones were the villains, and the villains were the good ones. I know you see more clearly now, Mom.

It would be negligent to overlook something that may, or may not, be related to Mom's decline, that began with mouth pain in January 2024, and cancer diagnosis in March. In December 2023, Mom had her fifth mRNA injection. By design, a design which won the Nobel Prize, the injections were made to evade the immune response, so they could enter the cells, by compromising Toll-like receptors 3, 7, and 8. Those Toll-like receptors are the same watchdogs of the immune system that fight cancer, including oral cancer.

Mom is predeceased by her sisters Martha Steinberg and Shirley Brooks, and her devoted husband Orlando. She had yearned to be reunited with them, and I trust she was lovingly welcomed into the next world.

She leaves behind her daughter Ellen, grand-dog Ishby, loving nephews Alan and Larry Dratch and Jerry Steinberg, nieces Marlene Merrill and Sheila Greenshields, and cousin Robin Ross, who Mom was blessed to live near, and whose companionship was a bright spot in Mom's later years.

She also leaves behind great-nephews Todd and Scott Steinberg, Ben and Sam Dratch, and Keith Greenshields; great-nieces Amy and Amanda Steinberg, Chelsea and Melissa Merrill, and Tammi Schieffer, as well as a growing family of great-great nephews and nieces.

If you'd like to make a donation in memory of Mom, please consider Temple Tikvah of New Hyde Park, who warmly welcomed the congregants of Temple Sholom when Mom and Dad's home temple could no longer sustain itself.

https://www.templetikvah.org/…

If you'd like to donate to a cancer research organization in memory of Mom, please consider the global network of Honest Medicine doctors at the Frontline Covid Critical Care Alliance. Their research into repurposed drugs, ethical science, integrative medicine, and metabolism has expanded far beyond covid. They're successfully exploring how repurposed drugs and integrative medicine can prevent and fight cancer at all stages. If not for the power of a false narrative capturing all channels of information Mom took seriously, despite my trying, they may have been able to help her, too.

https://covid19criticalcare.c…

Mom, I still can't believe you are gone. Three weeks ago you were very much alive. Yet, you were hurting, and you deserve to be free from pain. I trust your spirit lives on, but I miss you so, so much ...

Love you forever, Mom

A funeral service for Kaila was held Monday, October 14, 2024 from 1:30 PM to 2:30 PM at Sinai Chapels, 114-03 Queens Blvd, Forest Hills, NY 11375. Following the funeral service was a committal service from 3:00 PM to 3:30 PM at Beth David Cemetery, 300 Elmont Rd, Elmont, NY 11003.