Ten years ago, Maria Del Carman Romero, who died Oct. 31 at age 74, left her native Honduras to live with her pregnant daughter in Gypsum, eager to care for her grandchild.
With its arid climate and expansive views, Gypsum presented a dramatic change from El Progreso, a northwestern Honduras suburb near the Caribbean Sea.
In Gypsum, Romero found bananas only at the Columbine Market, selling at a price she never imagined when she worked as a young woman at the Chiquita packaging plant, putting labels on bunches of bananas.
The only medical service in Gypsum served animals, requiring a highway trip for prenatal care and, later, when Romero’s grandson needed checkups.
Though Romero missed the soft, humid air of her native country, she delighted in living so close to two of her four children. She adored resuming the familiar tasks of motherhood.
The quick fingers that once lightly pressed stickers on banana peels now nimbly fixed black beans and rice, Honduran tamales and the chicken with red sauce that her daughter Delmi Stewart adored.
Romero lived with the Stewarts, minding young Jimmy during his infancy and later proudly watching his progress in school. Romero never made it beyond the third grade in Honduras. Her parents pulled her from school to help them at home.
“My mother always said, ‘I don’t want you guys to be like me,”‘ Stewart said.
“She told us: ‘It’s difficult without school. I want you to be better than me. I want you to graduate from high school.’ She was so proud when I graduated and had my high school diploma. She told me she expected me to want college. But I never had the money for that.”
In Honduras, Romero lived through the military coups of 1955, 1963 and 1972. She bore Delmi at home, during the peak of the Soccer War between Honduran and El Salvadoran troops.
Romero died at her daughter’s home, surrounded by family. Her tearful grandson was at her bedside, and Delmi Stewart was stroking Romero’s hair, murmuring to her.
“Oh, my mother, the best mother in the world,” she crooned.
Survivors include daughters Delmi Stewart and Leslie Carcamo, both of Gypsum, and Alma Romero of El Progreso, Honduras; son Mario Romero of Washington; and nine grandchildren.
Staff writer Claire Martin can be reached at 303-820-1477 or cmartin@denverpost.com.
