Raquel Diosdada Valdivia

It is with the greatest of sadness that we announce the passing of Raquel Diosdada Valdivia of Cape Coral, Florida on August 9, 2026 at the age of 90. She was born in Cienfuegos, Cuba on November 8, 1935 to Pedro and Tomasa Valdivia. She had two brothers, Francisco and Pedro Valdivia, both deceased. She grew up in Cienfuegos and studied at the Catholic Colegio de las Dominicas Americanas of Cienfuegos, then moved to Havana as a young teenager to acquire her teaching degree from the Havana Normal School, where she graduated at 18 and taught elementary level classes at the prominent St George’s School of Havana. Raquel was a talented and generous artist, giving her paintings to many friends in both Cuba and the US. She was a passionate and voracious student of Christian and Judaic writings, laws, history, and customs and was a member of Beth Shiloh Messianic Synagogue for many years. Raquel left Cuba for the United States in 1970, with one suitcase and her two daughters in tow, and bravely started a new life as a single parent, working for various companies and finally retiring from ATT after 18 years of service. She is survived by her two daughters Raquel and Vivian, her son-in-law Noel, her three grandchildren and their spouses Jacqueline and Tiago, John and Danielle, and Michael, and her four great grandchildren Bailey, Penelope, Santiago and Johnny. Her first born, Miguel Angel, deceased at age 4 from cancer, is interred in Havana.