Obituary of Irma F. "Nena" Quiroga

Irma F. “Nena” (Flores) Quiroga, 94, of Peabody passed away at her home in Brooksby Village on April 4. Born in Bolivia, Irma grew up in La Paz, where her family’s pharmacy was the oldest in the capital city. She graduated from the American Institute High School and attended the University of San Andres. She met her beloved husband, Albert, in 1943, having been introduced by mutual friends of the family. They married three years later, with Irma proudly baking her own wedding cake. In 1953, Irma emigrated to join her husband in New Jersey, where he had been offered a job, having completed post-high school studies there before marriage. Traveling alone to a different country with a new culture and language—while caring for three children under 6 years old, including an 11-month-old—took remarkable strength and courage. Life as a newcomer in the U.S. was not easy: The couple had trouble finding good housing that accepted tenants with children, and they were separated from most of their family. To counter her loneliness, Irma, was encouraged by a Bolivian physician to became a nurse’s aid—and found a calling at Passaic General Hospital. On evenings and weekends, she attended the Metropolitan School of Baby Technicians in New York City to become a pediatric LPN. Based on the intelligence and patient-care skills she demonstrated in her almost twenty years of caring for infants, Irma was asked by hospital administration to train to become an EEG technician. She accepted the challenge, undergoing on-the-job training and pursuing continuing education at Harvard and Boston University on scholarships, to change fields. Irma eventually became the head of the EEG department, a position she held for seven years until her retirement in November 1985. Tough and persevering, Irma raised four children with her husband in Clifton, New Jersey, where she at first had to fight for her own civil rights as they faced 1960s-era prejudice while buying a home in suburbs. Together they instilled in their entire family the importance of an education and a love of learning. Irma delighted in meeting new people and was big-hearted and generous to everyone around her, especially those needing help, understanding and friendship. When she heard that Bolivian friends in New Jersey had been displaced by a fire, she immediately took in all five of them until they found a new home. In 1988, the Quirogas moved to Salem, Massachusetts, to be closer to their daughters’ families in their retirement. Irma was a faithful member of St. Nicholas Parish in Passaic, New Jersey, and St. James Parish in Salem for many years; served as a pastoral volunteer at Brooksby Village in Peabody; and was appointed by the Mayor of Salem to the Salem Senior Council on Aging Advisory Committee. As an active member of the Salem Senior Center, Irma was honored as Mother of the Year in 1997. In New Jersey, she served on the Passaic-Clifton YWCA Board of Directors and volunteered with her parish and in her children’s schools. An avid sports fan, Irma closely followed all the hometown professional sports teams, first in New York/New Jersey—passionately following Pele in his American debut with the Cosmos in the 1970s—and then transferring her enthusiasm to the teams in Boston. Soccer (fúbol) had her heart, however. She traveled to the World Cup in Spain and was thrilled to attend a World Cup-qualifying match of her beloved Bolivian national soccer team with her entire family here in Foxboro, Massachusetts, in 1994. She and her husband had season tickets to the New England Revolution in the team’s early years and, even in her declining health, hearing that the Revs had won a game brought a smile of happiness to Irma’s face. Having suffered loneliness and separation from family and the struggles many immigrants face, Irma was always open and accepting of all people, no matter race, gender, income, sexual orientation or ethnicity, and she spoke out against prejudice and injustice. Through her deep and unwavering faith in God, love of family and caring for others, Irma taught her children and grandchildren how to live. A spiritual being, she prayed daily for each individual member of the family and about whatever challenges they may be facing, as well as for all her friends, staff and aides at Brooksby Village who helped her daily. She inspired her entire family with her passion for music, dancing and food (just don’t use too much cumin). She adored and had boundless pride in all her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, as well as their spouses (her “outlaws”). Irma was the beloved wife of the late Albert L. Quiroga, beloved daughter of the late Enrique and Maria Luisa (Navarro) Flores, and sister of Luis E. Flores of Bolivia and the late Maria E. Burgoa and Olga Avila. She was loving mother of Elvira Q. Johnson and her husband, Richard, of North Reading, MA; Maria A. Quiroga and her husband, Alvin Shiggs, of Jamaica Plain, MA; Irma Q. Field and her husband, Gregory, of Winchester, MA; and John A. Quiroga of San Francisco. She was a loving and devoted grandmother of six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren: Nathan Johnson, and his wife, Genevieve Rajewski, and daughter, Catherine, of Wakefield, MA; Matthew Johnson, his wife, Amy, and daughters, Emme and Tessa, of Warwick, RI; Nicholas Shiggs-Quiroga of Dorchester, MA; Sara Shiggs-Quiroga of Los Angeles; Taylor Field of Ypsilanti, MI; and Rachel Field of Winchester, MA. She also is survived by many cousins, nieces and nephews around the world. Visiting hours will be held on Tuesday, from 4:00 until 7:00 PM at the Conway, Cahill-Brodeur Funeral Home, 82 Lynn St, Peabody. Her Funeral Mass will be celebrated on Wednesday at 12:00 PM at the Brooksby Village Chapel, 300 Brooksby Village Drive, Peabody, to which relatives and friends are kindly invited to attend. Burial will be in Riverside Cemetery, North Reading. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in her name to the Benevolent Care, Scholarship or Staff Appreciation Funds at Brooksby Village, 100 Brooksby Village Drive, Peabody, MA 01960