Maria Lourdes Da Silva Andrade

Obituary for Maria Lourdes da Silva Andrade

Maria Lourdes da Silva Andrade went home to be with God on the feast of Pentecost, May 19, 2024. She cherished the Lord and loved people, with a warm, kind, and generous spirit. 

Born in Santo Antonio, Madeira, Portugal, on November 5, 1924, Lourdes was the youngest of Frederico da Silva and Maria Jose Coelho da Silva, surrounded by the love and energy of five older brothers and one sister. Her father died from a construction accident when she was 14, a loss she felt deeply her entire life. Lourdes married Manuel da Silva Jr. with whom she had a daughter, Maria Dulce, born shortly before his death. Five years later, she met and married Ernesto Andrade, a Portuguese American on vacation in Madeira, and the two of them plus Dulce came to San Diego, California. Lourdes went to night school to learn English and become a citizen. 

Lourdes made lifelong friends, enjoyed weekend explorations driven by Ernie, Jr., and passed on her faith, ensuring that her daughter continued to grow in the Lord as well as in the traditions and language of their native Portugal. She used her sewing talent to make dresses for children in the Pentecost festa parade and set up a Portuguese language school at her home. Lourdes treasured her visits back to Madeira, Portugal; her family there was never out of her heart and mind.

Lourdes was a natural nurturer with the gift of building family. When Ernesto became too ill to work, she began her lifelong journey of caring for the children of working parents whom she helped raised as her own. For a time, Lourdes used her culinary skills at the seminary at the University of San Diego. After Ernesto’s heart condition widowed her a second time, she  eventually moved to Orange County to live with her daughter. Lourdes continued childcare and as an Orange school crossing guard until she was 79.

The last two decades presented multiple health challenges, which she faced with faith, grit born of multiple tragedies, and her infectious joy and optimism. Her mitral valve transplant, a persistent heart condition, several strokes, and a full hip replacement at 97 did not keep her down. Lourdes enjoyed trips and her “rides”, various festas in San Diego, family holiday gatherings, weekly visits to the ocean, her daughter’s doctoral graduation, eating out, and otherwise celebrating her life and relationships. Although we feel great loss and emptiness, we are assured that she is at peace and reunited with deceased family and friends in God’s eternal embrace. 

Maria Lourdes da Silva Andrade is survived by her daughter, Maria Dulce da Silva Andrade Johnson, and her son, Ernie Andrade; her son-in-law, David Johnson, her daughter-in-law, Barbara Andrade; her grandson, Blake Johnson, Derek Johnson, and her granddaughters, Sara, Rene, and Lauren Andrade and Kiersten Johnson; her nephews, Mark and Steve Sullivan, Daniel da Silva, Ilidio da Silva, Frederico da Silva, Fuchy da Silva; her nieces, Suzanna da Silva, Maria Lina Freitas, Maria Marcial, Zita Viegas, Carmo Spasic, Lucia Silva Ferreira, Susanna Rocha e Silva, Filomena Rocha e Silva, Paulo Rocha e Silva, Maria Luisa Silva, Manuela Silva, and the grand-nephews and nieces, great grand-children, as well as the many friends who call her Grandma, “Avó.” 

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