Obituary of Raquel Santis

Raquel F. Santis, 85, passed away on Thursday, December 12, 2013 at Treasure Coast Hospice in Stuart, Florida.



Raquel (commonly known as Lela) was born in Havana, Cuba on April 15, 1928. As a teenager, Raquel played tennis as a profession. Even though she jokingly admitted to "having a lot of admirers" while playing tennis, her brothers told her she was not allowed to date, only to focus on playing tennis, as her brothers were naturally overprotective of their famous baby sister.



In 1946, Lela met the love of her life, William Santis (commonly known as Boss). Boss was in Cuba visiting family and all it took was one look (and a secret family set up:) and Lela and Boss instantly fell in love. They were married on May 22, 1946 and lived in New York until the late 70's.



When Lela first came to America, she hardly knew any English but managed to get her first job in a candy factory (think of the "I Love Lucy" episode). Having a natural sweet tooth herself, the aromas of chocolate for 8 hours a day was payment enough! One day, her boss ignorantly call her "stupid" and while Lela did not know English at that time, she knew what "stupid" meant and told her boss in Spanish "that she was not stupid" and it was at that moment that she was determined to learn English.

Lela and Boss had two daughters, Anna Santis Meehan, born in 1949 & Cynthia Santis Bell, born in 1953. As a family of four growing up in New York, they never lost the essence of family while growing up in such a big and busy city, it was always family first.



In the late 70's, the warmer weather drew them down to Stuart, Florida, where Lela and Boss lived for the remainder of their lives. Boss was a painter by trade and after Lela's attempt in the candy factory, she ended up becoming one of Stuart's finest boat cushion seamstresses. While these were their professions by day, their real passion was in cooking and taking care of their grandkids. There was never a day that went by that there was not the smell of garlic cooking and Lela making sure your hair was not wet before you went to bed. After all, according to her, wet hair always resulted in pneumonia!



Besides making boat cushions, Lela enjoyed cooking, reading her Bible, dancing with her grandkids to Julio Iglesias Sr. and most importantly, just spending quality time with her loved ones. To her, there was no material possession that could even come close to the time that she got to spend every day with her family.



Lela and Boss were members of First Baptist Church of Stuart for over 30 years. After Boss passed away in 2004, Lela continued to attend church there with her daughter Anna.

Survivors of Lela include:



- Anna Santis Meehan(daughter) and her husband, John Meehan (son-in-law) of Palm City, Florida

- Cynthia Santis Bell (daughter) and her husband, Bill Bell (son-in-law) of Stuart, Florida

- Raquel Meehan Pierce (granddaughter), her husband, Brandon Pierce (grandson-in-law) and their daughter, Lilliana Pierce (great granddaughter) of Stuart, Florida

- Nicole Meehan Simpson (granddaughter), her husband, Steve Simpson (grandson-in-law) and their daughters, Rebekah "Bekah" Simpson & Hannah Raquel Simpson (great granddaughters) of Stuart, Florida

- Andre Arroyave (grandson) and his fianc, Dana Davidson of Stuart, Florida

- Michelle Santis Gomez (granddaughter) and her husband, Guillermo Gomez (grandson-in-law) of Long Beach, California

- Robbie Santis (grandson) of Stuart, Florida



Lela was preceded in death by her first and only love of almost 60 years in marriage, William "Boss" Santis in 2004.



Visitation/Viewing for Raquel "Lela" Santis will be on Saturday, December 21, 2013 from 9:30am - 11:00am. The Service/Celebration of Life will follow immediately after the visitation/viewing from 11:00am - 12:00pm and both events will be held at Forest Hills Funeral Home in Palm City, Florida, 2001 S.W. Murphy Road, Palm City, Florida 34990. Pastor Darrell Orman of First Baptist Church of Stuart will be officiating her Celebration of Life service.



If you would like to share condolences and memories of Lela, please visit Forest Hill's website at: foresthillspalmcityflorida.com and look up Lela's obituary.

While flowers are very much appreciated and welcomed humbly by her family, alternately, if you would like to make a memorial contribution in Lela's honor and memory, you can do so by making a contribution to First Baptist Church of Stuart, making a note in the memo "In memory of Raquel Santis - Benevolence Fund". Lela was a woman who always would give the shirt off her back and the food off her plate to anyone who was in need. She always had a heart to help the less fortunate and did so, even in the smallest of ways.

Thank you to all of our family and friends who have been a part of Lela's life. Especially noting most recently, lifting Lela and all of us, her family, up in prayers these last few weeks has been a tremendous testimony to the impact that Lela has made on you and in return, your prayers for us. Lela loved God with all of her heart, soul and mind and her family takes great comfort in knowing that she is now rejoicing in heaven with her first love, Boss and her savior, Jesus Christ.