Judy Silva
Judy Silva of Merrick died on May 23 in Phoenix, Arizona, from an infection and complications from an organ transplant she received in May 2010. She was 61.
Born in 1949, in Brooklyn and raised in Hicksville, she graduated from Southampton College in 1971, married, and taught kindergarten on Eastern Long Island. With the birth of her daughter in 1975, Ms. Silva took on the full-time position of mother, wife, and homemaker, as her small family relocated to different regions of the United States.
She had a spirit of giving, forgiving, and loving, family said.
Ms. Silva waited the organ transplant for 35 years, before the surgery last year.
She is survived by her husband, Peter Running Deer Silva of the Shinnecock Indian Reservation; daughter, Heather Mahpiua-Luta Silva of the Hassanamisco Indian Reservation; sister, Susan Veno and her husband Jerry; and aunts and uncles, Hilda Mendelsohn and Melvin and Kitty Kessler. She was predeceased by her parents, Oscar and Abby Shreefter, an aunt, Sylvia Aronowitz, and uncle, Hy Aronowitz.
Memorial donations may be made to the North Shore Animal League and Shelter, animalleague.org.
on Jul 12, 2011