Across
- 4. He was my mother's father and his name was Robert Crivelli. For years he battled colon cancer and at one point he had beaten it. While I was in the third grade, his colon cancer had come back in full force. This terrified my family because it had come back stronger than before and we had believed that it was gone for good. He had to go through multiple treatments of chemo again, which did seem to slow its growth. At this time I couldn't really understand what was going on since I was young, until a year later when my parents told me that my grandpa’s treatment wasn’t treating his cancer. That year my grandpa decided that he would take some of his grandchildren each year to Hawaii as their graduation present because he knew that he might not live long enoughto see all of his grandchildren’s graduations. The summer after my fourth grade year, he took my older brother and older cousin Bobby. When he went he still hadn’t been fully affected by his symptoms. As the year passed he started to get worse. He would feel sick all the time and was always tired. After my fifth grade year he took my older cousin Vicky and I to Hawaii. It was amazing and I had so much fun with my grandma and grandpa, but I could also tell that my grandpa was tired and it was taking a toll on him. Entering my sixth grade year my mother told me that my grandpa wasn’t getting better and that he was more than likely not going to survive the next few months. I was eleven at the time and didn’t really know how to deal with that. November of 2016 was when my grandpa passed away. I remember my brother and I being picked up by my aunt from school and being dropped off at my home. Me and my brother were joking about something as we were walking up the steps to the door. When I opened the door I remember seeing my parents sitting on the couch and my mom crying. I immediately knew that my grandpa had passed away and started to cry. I ran and hugged my mom while I saw my brother cry for the first time. That was the first time we felt real loss and it hurt my family.
- 5. She was my mother's best friend and was practically like another mother to me. Ms. Celes was a preschool teacher and taught many of my family members, including me. She worked alongside my mother, when my mother worked as an accountant in the elementary school. I remember going over to her house, while she babysat me, and growing up with her kids. She had many medical issues throughout the years, but at one point she was diagnosed with leukemia. The week before my grandma got sick, she was emitted into the hospital because her organs started to shut down and she was too sick to stay at home. She died the same day as my grandma.
- 6. She was my fathers aunt, we called her Tia Pina. I never knew her too well, but nonetheless I have always had fond memories with her. My father absolutely loved her because she was a big part of his life. She had gotten cancer and was very sick for a while. When she died, that was the first time I saw my father cry. She meant a lot to him and my family.
Down
- 1. She was my mother's mom and her name was Belen Crivelli. She was the most affected by my grandpa’s passing. They absolutely loved each other and had redone their vows about five times to express that. About a year after my grandpa passed, my grandma got sick. She had gotten the flu and developed pneumonia. Within four days she passed away. That day I was also picked up by my aunt, but I was taken to my grandparent’s, on my father’s side, house, instead of mine. My brother went to school very close to my grandparents house so he was already there when I arrived. I wasn’t sure what to think of it at the time, but since my cousins were at the house I was excited to see them. After a while of hanging out with my cousins, my brother got a call and we were both asked to take it outside. My dad had called and told us our grandma died. At first I was shocked and didn’t know how to react, but then I started bawling. I went to one of the rooms and cried for a little while. Then we got a call again and my dad had told us Ms. Celes had died.
- 2. She was my mother's aunt, who we called Tia Jessie. In 2020, during the pandemic, she moved in with my family and I because she had many pre-existing conditions and shouldn’t have been living on her own. She moved into my room while I moved to the upstairs room. I loved living with her, she would tell the best stories about her, my grandma and grandpa when they were young. She taught me how to crochet and how to make paper flowers. In 2021, she had gotten Covid and after a few days she needed to be emitted to a hospital. On February 4th, 2021, Tia Jessie died from the coronavirus. It was my birthday.
- 3. She is my aunt on my father's side, who we called Tia Celina. Throughout her life she had to deal with kidney problems and multiple dialysis treatments. Earlier in life, my Tio Tony gave her one of his kidneys, but after a few years it started to fail and her body needed dialysis once more. I remember visiting her in the hospital one day because she had gotten really sick and desperately needed a kidney, or else she was going to make it. She had been on the donor waiting list for about eleven years and still hadn’t found a recipient. I remember being terrified of losing another family member. My cousins and I were all in her hospital room beside her when she suddenly got a call. It was from a man that none of us knew, he had offered to give my tia his kidney. That day I remember crying so much because of this one man’s kind gesture which saved my aunt’s life.
- 4. She was the mother of Ms. Celes and had babysat my brother and I throughout our childhood as well. She had always told us to call her Granny, because she was like our grandmother. Only a few months after her daughter, Ms. Celes, died, she had gotten sick. She died around March of 2018.