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18/03/2017 - Salt Lake City, EEUU

(Publicado el 22 de marzo de 2017 en Salt Lake Tribune, Legacy.com)

Laudelina Gondra, 79, of Salt Lake City, Utah, passed away peacefully on March 18, 2017, surrounded by her family. 

Our beloved, mother, and grandmother was born on December 21, 1937, in Valdevimbre, Spain. The 7th of 10 children, Laudelina leaves behind her husband Narciso of nearly 60 years, her two children Anna Maria Allen (Jim) and Xavier, as well as her granddaughter Elizabeth Budenberg (Luke). She is also survived by her three sisters Gelina, Natividad and Bernadette, and her two brothers Felipe and Paco. She is preceded in death by her brothers Genaro and Manolo, and her two sisters Maria and Lisa. 

Lina, as all knew her to be called, left home at the too early age of 13, and moved to Guernica, a town in the Basque Country where she would eventually several years later meet and marry the love of her life Narciso Gondra. Shortly into their marriage, Narciso convinced Lina that America, where he had previously worked for 7 years as a sheepherder in the Shoshone mountains of Idaho, would be a better place to live and raise a family. 

Upon coming to America and settling in Sun Valley, Idaho, Lina worked for writer Ernest Hemingway and it was Ernest's wife Mary who would translate for Lina while delivering her first-born daughter Anna Maria. In late 1968 the family moved to Salt Lake City, Utah where Lina met many wonderful Basque families and made wonderful friends at the Hogar Hotel, a Basque boarding house where she helped Basques who were transitioning from the Basque Country to America. While at the Hogar she met Cathy Urquidi who operated the Hogar Hotel with Claudia and John Landa and became lifelong best friends with her, and together they would have daily hikes and walks with their four-legged furry companions. Along with her active involvement with the Utah Basque Club, Lina was a lover of gardening and in her final hours on this earth, she was doing what she loved which was getting her garden ready for the new season. Lina was also an amazing cook who was happy to bring anyone in and cook a meal for them. She was always hospitable, warm, very funny, and able to make those around her comfortable. She always followed her heart, lived life authentically, and loved fearlessly. She will be missed. We love you Madre.

A Funeral Mass will be held Friday, March 24, 2017 at 12:30 p.m. at the Cathedral of the Madeleine, 331 East South Temple. A viewing will be held Thursday from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., with prayer service at 7:00 p.m. at Larkin Sunset Lawn, 2350 East 1300 South. Interment at Mount Calvary Cemetery.