Fernanda “Ferdy”‘ Madalena January 2, 2020 San Diego Fernanda Madalena passed away at home in San Diego, CA, on January 2, 2020, at the age of 92. Ferdy’s life was a full one, her interests many and varied.
Born in the Netherlands, she, her father and sister (her mother having died when she was very young) came to the United States during the build up to WWll via Portugal.
The family resided on the East Coast and Fernanda attended schools in New York, New Jersey and Antioch College in Ohio.Fernanda married her first husband, Hans, 1948, and together they had three children, John, Joyce and Steve.
They first resided in Pennsylvania and relocated to SoCal in the early 1960’s, ultimately moving to San Diego in 1965. Ferdy began working for the San Diego Unified School District where she worked until she took early retirement in order to spent more time with her second husband, Angelo Madalena (they were married in 1977), with whom she spent many happy, busy years. With her marriage to Angelo, she was favored with step-daughters Anita and Jean; grandchildren, Gregory and Jennifer, and great-granddaughter, Olivia.
Among her many loves were family, friends, home, travel, golf, dancing and bridge, all of which she shared with Angelo (except the golf , as he was not a fan his “green” was his garden). They traveled widely and Greg was the recipient of postcards and souvenirs from every trip. Fernanda was predeceased by husband, Angelo, who died in 2003, and son, John.
She is survived by Joyce Lohmann, Steve Lohmann, Jean Wilson, Anita Siskind, Gregory Wilson, Jennifer Griffin, Olivia Griffin and other relatives across the country and in the Netherlands.Services have not yet been scheduled. The best thing that one can do is simply remember, with fondness, a life well lived.