I remember her smile and the Spanish word that often came with it: “linda” (pretty).
She used that word for our daughter Emily, she of the wild, dark curls whom we had adopted in Paraguay in 1992. She used that word about many other children under her care in that tiny, one-story house on Hazel Terrace, the one with the backyard sandbox near the wooden swing.
When Emily was about 18 months old, and we needed child care, we brought her to the one all of us would call “Tia” (aunt) for long after.
Those terms of endearment are part of what shapes the memory of that diminutive women with outsized spirit who has now left us.
Silvia Alvarez Dominguez died on Thursday, Feb. 16, after suffering long with Alzheimer’s. She was 82.
An account of her life from Keefe Funeral Home in Arlington provides some background, and I add other details:
She was born on Jan. 23, 1935, in Santiago, Chile, to General Rene Alvarez Marin and Silvia Boza Trocheu.
While attending law school, she met the love of her life, Carlos Eugenio Dominguez Vial. They married in 1958.
In the early 1970s, she cofounded Chile’s Christian Left party and served as its executive secretary. She fought for the rights of workers as well as of women and children living in “Las Poblaciones” (shanty towns).
Following the military coup in 1973, ousting President Salvador Allende and launching murderous years under Augusto Pinochet, she and her husband were exiled and came to the United States, as refugees. They came with a suitcase each and their four daughters, age 6 to 14 years old. They settled in Arlington.
Soon after, Dominguez became one of the first family child-care providers licensed by Massachusetts, and for more than 30 years, she was known as “Tia” to hundreds of children and their families. She was a loving caregiver and small-business owner. Through hard work, she achieved her dream of owning a home.
Dominguez remained active in politics throughout her life and was a strong supporter of the Democratic Party and, in particular, women running for office.
Liberation theology
She was a devout Catholic and followed liberation theology, an interpretation of Christian theology that emphasizes a concern for the liberation of the oppressed.
Her husband was honored at the annual Martin Luther King birthday observance in 1993, the year he died at age 61 at then-nearby Symmes Hospital. Under Allende, he had been Chile’s senior executive for agricultural foreign trade programs for the Andean region.
Soon after becoming a widow at 58 years old, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She continued to work and learned how to drive a car, while beating the disease.
Silvia loved chocolate, old movies, Frank Sinatra, the color red, a good bourbon and was an avid reader of mysteries.
I remember her reading them, but not as she sat in her backyard, surrounded by playing children, Emily among them. In the years my daughter was there, before she attended the Stratton, I recall how Emily wanted to help with the young charges. Tia encouraged her.
Now 24, Emily cares for children at Bright Horizons, a living legacy of what her “aunt” has passed on.
Dominguez is survived by her four daughters, Maria Ester Dominguez Roy, Silvia Dominguez, Maria del Carmen Dominguez and Rosario Dominguez; two sisters, Marcela and Loreto; three son-in-laws, Rick Roy, Fabricio Franco and Jim McLeod; and her grandchildren, Trey, Marcela, Zach, Matias A., Matias F., Mikaela, Rachel and Carlos.
In lieu of flowers, friends are encouraged to make a donation to the Alzheimer’s Association in Dominguez’s name.
A service was held at 11:30 a.m. Monday, Feb. 20, at Saint Agnes Church. A celebration with family and friends followed in Arlington.
This news story including opinion was published Sunday, Feb. 18, 2017, and updated.
