Veralicia Figueroa she was preparing to return to her native country.
Figueroa, 57, talked frequently about her plans in recent months, proudly telling friends that her two children had made it through college and were building careers.
Her son works as a maintenance engineer at an international products company in San Salvador, El Salvador’s capital, and her daughter helps oversee supplies at a private hospital there.
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Family members in El Salvador said Figueroa left for the United States in 2002 after a broken first marriage forced her and her children into extreme poverty.Figueroa — a sweet-tempered but strong mother who had suffered through the ravages of El Salvador’s 12-year civil war — assured her then-teenage children that their lives would be better than hers.
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Before the country’s civil war ended in 1992, hundreds of villagers — including Figueroa and Alfaro — were forced to flee the violence that tore through that hilly portion of their country.
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“My mother left a great mark on many people’s lives,” Rivas said. “Many times, she’d see people in the street and give them money for food.”
After her children finished college, Figueroa began longing to return, said Nelitza Gutierrez, who also worked as a housekeeper for the Savopoulos family and was close friends with Figueroa.
The physical stress of housekeeping was starting to take its toll, and she complained that she missed her children, Gutierrez said.
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The family is now waiting for the Salvadoran Consulate in Washington to arrange for Figueroa’s body to be flown back to her country, a process that could take up to 15 days.
When she arrives, Rivas said, they’ll be awaiting her.....................................
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local...205826-fd84-11e4-8b6c-0dcce21e223d_story.html
