Date/Time
Date(s) - October 19, 2019
3:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Location
Unitarian Universalist Church of Urbana-Champaign - Sanctuary
Categories No Categories
We are saddened to share that beloved UUCUC member Yolanda Greco Deal passed away on Monday, September 9, after a brief illness. She was a member of UUCUC for 33 years. These words are shared by her family with the congregation.
Yolanda was born on October 29, 1930 in Melrose Park, Illinois, the first daughter of Eugenio Greco and Adelina Casciaro Greco. She was preceded in death by her husband and partner in adventure, Carl W. Deal, Sr, her parents, and her brother, Frank Greco.
Yolanda grew up in a Southern Italian immigrant family. Her first language was the Calabrese dialect, which she spoke throughout her life. She took deep pride in her culture and her roots, and in the challenges and joys of the immigrant experience. She had the same genuine respect for and curiosity about the experiences and lives of others. Her community was global, and she recognized no borders when it came to celebrating people, learning new languages, observing new traditions, and building friendships.
The values imbued by her immigrant parents guided Yolanda in her belief that hard work, honesty, and kindness could make anything possible. She believed in fairness and social justice, and she never wavered in standing up for herself, and others, in pursuit of those values.
In 1953, Yolanda was waiting tables at her family’s Aroma Cafe in Emporia, Kansas when she first met Carl, a tall handsome Air Force clerk. They married a year later and moved to Mexico, launching a 64-year love story grounded in their shared passion for music, language, food and travel.
Yolanda was the first of her family to attend college and earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish in 1952 from Emporia State University. Her zeal for education would be a constant throughout her life, and as she supported Carl in his career as a Latin American Studies professor and librarian – first at Kansas University and later at the University of Illinois – Yolanda worked as a public-school teacher and taught Spanish at Parkland College. She developed a pioneering culture-based curriculum to teach Spanish to children using music and folklore, and also co-directed an inaugural study abroad program with the University of Costa Rica which has become the longest-running continuous exchange of its kind.
Yolanda delighted in the smallest details of life and could conjure beauty from the earth in all manners of flowers, herbs, and vegetables. In her hands, something was always in season, and she shared her bounty generously. Her home was a refuge for legions of friends and students from around the world. Anyone seeking the warmth and comfort of a great meal, a thoughtful conversation, lively music and song, and caring friendship would find it in Carl’s and Yolanda’s home on Boudreau Drive. It was, and is, a shrine to all that mattered to her.
Yolanda lived life vigorously and with a natural and contagious enthusiasm that made others feel special and brought out their best. She was a giving daughter, sister, mother, grandmother, aunt, friend and teacher who supported those she loved with empathy and encouraged them to courageously pursue their dreams. Her smile and laughter lit up a room, and she sang with a beautiful spirit that often kept a party going deep into the night. Her absence is deeply felt by her family and by all those she touched.
The Greco/Deal family extends their gratitude to all her beloved friends and neighbors, and to everyone who gave their compassionate support to Yolanda at the end of her life.
In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to support research to advance early detection of Lymphoma: https://www.foundationbarnesjewish.org/how-to-give/give-now.
(Please select “Other” to designate your donation for the Steinback Fund and note that the donation is “in Memory of” Yolanda Deal.)
Memorials may also be made to the Urbana Free Library Foundation in her name: www.urbanafreelibrary.org/donate/foundation-annual.
A memorial service for our beloved Yolanda Deal will be held on Saturday, October 19, at 3:00 p.m. in the Sanctuary of UUCUC, with a reception following in Fellowship Hall.