ANGELA RUIZ DE VARONA
Died Sept. 8, 2013
PIKEVILLE -- Dr. Angela Ruiz de Varona, 88, 103 Angel Place, Goldsboro, passed away Sept. 8 at her home.
The family will receive friends Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2013, at Seymour Funeral Home in Goldsboro, N.C., from 6 to 8 p.m., followed by a prayer and memorial service at 8 p.m.
A funeral Mass will be held at 1 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2013, at St. Mary Catholic Church in Goldsboro, followed by a graveside service at Pikeville Cemetery.
Dr. Ruiz de Varona was born in Madruga, Havana, Cuba. She was the daughter of Diego Ruiz and Maria de los Angeles Lopez Ruiz.
She graduated from the University of Havana School of Medicine in 1951.
During the Cuban revolution, she actively participated in the 26th of July Movement headed by Fidel Castro that fought to oust the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. She supported the new government until Castro declared his allegiance to Russia and the communist doctrine.
She fled Cuba in 1961 with her husband, Dr. Jose Miguel de Varona de Zayas, and their six children, and came to the United States seeking freedom and refuge.
She worked in a laboratory in Albuquerque, N.M., until 1964, when she moved to Virginia and worked as a physician at Southwestern State hospital in Marion, Va.
In 1970, she moved to Goldsboro and worked at Cherry Hospital.
In 1975, she completed her residency in psychiatry at the University of North Carolina and Duke.
She served as medical director of Onslow County Mental Health Center in Jacksonville, N.C., until she retired in 1986.
Dr. Ruiz de Varona is survived by her children, Hada de Varona Haulsee and husband, Ronald, Lola de Varona and María de los Angeles de Varona of Winston-Salem, Fe María de Varona Finch and husband, Warren, José Guillermo de Varona and wife, Tammy, of Pikeville and María Bella de Varona Wise of Princeton; 20 grandchildren; 17 great-grandchildren; two sisters; and three brothers.
Flowers are welcome or memorial gifts may be given to St. Mary Catholic Church, 1000 N. Jefferson Ave., Goldsboro, N.C., 27530.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.seymourfuneralhome.com.
(Pd)
Published in Obituaries on September 10, 2013 1:48 PM