Mary experienced an amazing long life, she was born on July 31, 1919, in New Bedford, Massachusetts, the daughter of Maria Pereira Campanario and Francisco Abreu Santos; she had 4 brothers and one sister. 

At 3 years old her family moved to the island of Maderia Portugal where she lived until she was 12. Her father then decided to move the family to a small rural farm located near Taubaté Brazil. Mary’s mom then passed away at the age of 44 and her father shortly thereafter making Mary the effective mother, breadwinner and caretaker of her family. 

After the war with all her siblings being married and Mary being single with her USA citizenship, she decided at the age of 29 to return to the USA to live with her uncle’s family in New Britain Connecticut. She worked first as a seamstress and as a factory worker and eventually met and married George Teixeira in 1954; who was from the same village in Maderia and whom she knew from her childhood. 

She then traveled back to Maderia and had her first son George at the age of 39, and also had her son Daniel there at age 44. 

The family moved back to the USA, to Hollywood Beach, Fl in 1963 where they owned and managed the Bella Vista Apartments near the ocean where Mary raised her two sons. At age 56, Mary received her driver’s license and continued to drive until she was 96 years old. 

At age 61, in 1981 she sold the business and began her retirement years by traveling. She enjoyed her family and especially the birth and care of her grandchildren. She finally moved to Fort Lauderdale Beach in 1988 to return to a life she loved, with a residence by the beach so she could walk by her ocean. She was actively involved in the Leisure House condo board and was adopted as ‘mom’ by her condo family. 

Mary always had a love of animals from her first dog, a dachshund to her many cats named Seba, and later in life her beloved companions, her Yorkie Bella and her Himalayan cat Baby.

Maria enjoyed making her Portuguese kale soup, polenta and fish meals. She even cooked up a meal the day before she passed. Recently she showed me how to properly prepare kale (video snippet attached) for the soup. Btw, being someone who lived through the depression, it was interesting to see her pantry which contained over 25 cans of Tuna and Salmon, multiple bottles of olive oil, plenty of beans, rice, potatoes and cornmeal and her fridge was stocked with recently caught whole fish which she cleaned and filleted by hand. She always remembers the times when food was scarce and therefore always remained grateful for the plentiful food in our lives in America so she liked to stock up, just in case ;-) 

Maria in 1985 becomes vovazinha and helps Diane and George raise the twins Chris and John