Yolanda Foronda Kuperman

Yolanda was born in Hanoi, Vietnam (formerly French Indochina) to Saturnino Sr. and Lucienne Gillet Foronda on September 28, 1928. In the 1930’s, Saturnino and Lucienne migrated to the Philippines with their 4 children, then had 6 more children. Yolanda completed her Bachelors Degree in Music at Centro Escolar University, Manila, Philippines. She migrated to the United States in the 1960’s and met Morris Kuperman, a retired US Army Sergeant. They married in Arlington, Virginia on November 25, 1967 and lived in the Washington DC Metro Area until his death on August 14, 1985. In Yolanda’s professional career, she was a piano teacher in the Philippines and the US, school-age teacher and Peace Corps volunteer in Guam. Yolanda also worked for the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in Washington, DC for 18 years until she retired in 1990.

Yolanda had a beautiful, operatic voice and was known for singing different versions of the song, “Ave Maria”. She enjoyed spending time with her large family performing music, reminiscing about the Philippines, eating and playing Mahjong. Yolanda resided in senior living communities in the Washington DC area and was very active in these communities by playing the piano and singing, exercising and participating in social activities. Yolanda moved to the St. Petersburg, Florida area in the late 1990’s to be near her siblings.

Yolanda is preceded in death by her parents, Saturnino Foronda Sr. and Lucienne Gillet Foronda; and her siblings, Raoul Foronda, Christiane Foronda, Claude Foronda, Evelyn Foronda, Maryrose Lacuesta and Francis Foronda.

Yolanda is survived by her 2 brothers, Paul Foronda (partner, Sandy Wood) and Saturnino Jr. (wife, Ely Foronda); her sister, Beatriz Miranda, and many nieces and nephews and their children. She will be missed by all.

Funeral services and burial will be in Arlington Cemetery where Yolanda will join her husband, Morris. Date is to be determined.