Mrs. Ana I. Delgado

Ana Iris Delgado was born on January 20, 1934 in Caguas, Puerto Rico to Maria Montanez de Estrada and Juan Viera Estrada. She grew up in San Juan, Puerto Rico with her parents and brothers, Juan Viera, Efrain Rosario, Jose Rosario, Julio Rosario and Nectalie Rosario. On October 10, 1950 she married Jose M. Delgado-Rivera and promptly began their family. In 1959 they moved to their first US Army post at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma with their 4 daughter’s Maria Delgado-Hernandez, Wanda Delgado-Purcell, Sandra Delgado-Walker and Sonia Delgado. Neither Mrs. Delgado nor her daughters spoke English but they quickly became acclimated and learned to both read and write English. Ana Delgado was an amazing woman who not only raised 4 daughters in a country and culture that were foreign to her, she taught her daughters about her island culture, its foods, to speak Spanish and English and with her husband instilled a Puerto Rican pride in her girls. As her husband career in the US Army continued over the years Mrs. Delgado became more independent as her husband was off fighting two wars or assigned to various duty stations where she and her children would have been in danger. When all four daughters were in Elementary school she learned to drive and entered the work force with jobs at the Military Exchange at Fr. Meade and later the Maryland School for the Deaf where she taught herself sign language so she could communicate with the children. Ana’s one goal when she began to earn her own money was to one day own a home. She reached that goal in 1972 when the Delgado’s purchased a home in Jessup, Maryland.

She cherished her family and her home and took tremendous pride every year in decorating her home for the Christmas Holidays winning the 1^st place prize in her community several times.

Mrs. Delgado continued to live in her Jessup, Maryland home after her husband passed away in 2006 until her health deteriorated and her family moved her to Orlando, Florida in September of 2014 to be near her daughter’s Mary and Sonia. Mrs. Delgado suffered unsurmountable losses beginning with her beloved husband Jose followed by three daughters over a five year period. Ana Delgado passed away quietly and peacefully in her sleep on Saturday, November 9, 2019 in Orlando, Florida where she shared a home with her daughter Sonia Delgado. Mrs. Delgado will be taken back to Maryland by her surviving daughters Sonia Delgado to be interred with her husband Jose Delgado-Rivera, a decorated US Army Veteran.