Somerville-Cambridge Elder Services (SCES) lost a dear friend and advocate with the passing of Board Member Ligia Taylor earlier this year.
Born in Sao Miguel (Azores), Ligia was a longtime Somerville resident and SCES board member, variously serving as President, Vice President and Treasurer over the past 23 years. The SCES board honored her memory in March, by renaming the agency boardroom in her honor.
Ligia touched many lives during her time with SCES, and her friends and colleagues shared the following memories with us:
“My memories of Ligia are very similar in that, even when she seemed sad or not well herself, she always asked about me, made sure I ate the cake she brought, and teased me playfully. She often spoke with pride and love about her family; her son, her grandchildren, her brother and sister. She had loving and caring relationships with each of them. She also spoke passionately about the causes she cared about–her church, her work with the Catholic daughters, and of course SCES.
I miss her tremendously and it is very telling that at our first Board meeting without her, staff and board members felt compelled to bring a home-baked cake!” — SCES Board President Liz Aguilo
“I first met Ligia when I worked at SCES in the early 90s. There was an initiative where board members would accompany a case manager on a home visit, and I remember telling my supervisor that I would be happy to do it, but the Board member would needed to allow for translation time, because most of my clients were Portuguese speaking. But my board member was Ligia, who also spoke Portuguese.
Ligia and I connected and arranged our meeting with the client. From that moment on, it was as if we had always known each other. Ligia had that ability. I still remember how wonderful that visit was for our client, who was rather isolated.
Ligia was so committed to the SCES mission, wanting to advocate and support the older residents of her community. She was the definition of Volunteerism and will be truly missed!” —Susan Pacheco, SCES Board member.
“Ligia was a great person and a dedicated volunteer. She volunteered as a Medical Escort and would crochet hand-made scarfs to raise money for the program. Her smile and presence at SCES will be greatly missed.” – Marie Mazzeo, SCES Volunteer Programs Manager
“I have many memories of Ligia but this is one of my favorites: I asked her for the recipe for her delicious egg nog cake so that I could make it to bring to my family’s Christmas Party. Since she was making several of them for the holidays, she also made one for me…and my family got to enjoy one of Ligia’s famous cakes.” — Betty Mitchell, SCES Office Manager
