Florentina R. Palacio

In her 97 years of life, Florentina R. Palacio blessed family, friends and strangers with many things. But it was her smile, so wide and friendly, that everyone will remember about \"Grandma-Grandma.\"

Florentina and her smile came into this world on Oct. 16, 1910 in Rancho Nuevo, Zacatecas, Mexico. She died Sunday, Sept. 7, at Good Samaritan Center in Olathe, where she lived the last few months of a life spent mostly in Chase County and Emporia, but later in Topeka and Overland Park.

She started shaking up her world as a spunky little schoolgirl in Emporia, where she attended Sacred Heart and St. Catherine's Catholic churches. She was the daughter of Filomeno and Pascuala Puente Renteria, and older sister to two brothers.

Florentina came to be many things in her long life. She became an LPN with a degree from the University of Kansas Medical Center and worked as a private-duty nurse and in several nursing homes in Emporia.

She was a many-times honored community volunteer, an interpreter for Spanish-speaking people and a watchful neighborhood block mother. Most importantly, she was a devout Catholic who, even when she was frail, would get down on her knees to pray at her bedside.

She married Apolonio (Paul) Palacio on Nov. 4, 1929, in Strong City. He preceded her in death on Dec. 19, 1976. They had three children: Ysabel, Bernard and Pauline. Bernard Palacio, of Tuscon, Ariz., and Pauline Gutierrez, of Topeka, survive.

So do three granddaughters, two grandsons and their spouses: Lisa Houser and her husband, Michael, of Overland Park; Lori Wickliffe and her husband, Kevin, of Lawrence; Lydia Schmidt and her husband, Kevin, of Topeka; Anthony Gutierrez and his wife, Amy, of Salisbury, Md., and Ron Gutierrez and his wife, Agatha, of Overland Park.

Florentina is also survived by 15 great-grandchildren and a dear friend, Ruby Spain, of Cottonwood Falls.

Florentina might have been small of stature, but she took no guff. Her maternal grandmother taught her that there was no shame in speaking her mind.

"I think I used to scare my grandmother,\" she once said. \"My mother was an angel. My brothers were angels. When I spoke, my grandmother said, the earth shook.\"

She learned much from her beloved Mexican grandmother, who taught her how to quilt, crochet, knit and sew with the precise stitches of a surgeon. Abiding by another of her grandmother's lessons, Florentina was always, always quick to help a family member or stranger in need. Do unto others, she believed.

Before it became chic to be \"green,\" she was a thrifty steward of the earth, reusing and recycling everything from scraps of paper to tin cans. She kept a tidy house and a bountiful garden. Late in life she learned how to carve wood and belonged to an Emporia woodcarvers group called Easy Bleeders. She also loved to travel by train.

She stayed fit by walking. She walked around the neighborhood, walked to the grocery store and when she had to push a walker for assistance, she strolled down the halls of her assisted living residence. To people she passed she'd flash that smile and call out, \"Howdy doody!\" or \"Good morning!\"

Friends and family are invited to say good-bye to Florentina at a visitation beginning at 4 p.m. Wednesday at Sacred Heart Church in Topeka, where she was a member. A Daughters of Isabella rosary will be prayed at 5 p.m., followed by a parish rosary at 6 p.m. Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Thursday at the church, with graveside interment following at 1 p.m. at Sacred Heart Cemetery in Emporia.

Memorial contributions may be made to LULAC, where Florentina enjoyed lunch every weekday for several years, and Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Topeka. Contributions may be sent in care of Brennan-Mathena Funeral Home, 800 S.W. 6th Ave., Topeka, Kan., 66603.

Online condolences may be sent to www.brennanmathenafh.com.

Florentina lived a humble life, devoid of material goods or fancy ways. Her granddaughter, Lori Wickliffe, likes to say that her grandmother might have been poor in money, but she was rich in family and friends who more important to her than possessions.

A smile? It cost her nothing to share one. \"All my life I have never met a stranger,\" Florentina once said. \"My grandmother said, 'Say good morning to people. The day belongs to God.'\""