Maria Nubia Serrano

Our beloved mother and grandmother María Nubia Serrano (née Guaracao) sadly passed away peacefully in her sleep on Friday, April 28, 2023 surrounded by her immediate loved ones. She was 84 years old. Born in Bucaramanga, Colombia, Nubia, as she was known by family and friends, lived a long and full life as a mother, grandmother, daughter, sister, aunt, cousin and friend. Her heartfelt devotion to her mother Paulina, sister Delia, and other family members in the U.S. and Colombia was of great importance to Nubia, only surpassed by her undying love, pride and devotion for her daughters and grandchildren. Nubia was a caregiver, hard-working accountant, gardener, storyteller, avid reader, enthusiast for old Hollywood movies, traveler, frugal beyond measure, dedicated to community service, and a Colombian immigrant in the U.S., her adopted homeland.

Inspired by President Kennedy’s 1961 visit to South America, Nubia long dreamed of living in the United States and giving her children opportunities that were not available to her. Courageously, with only knowing basic English, Nubia and her husband Carlos Norberto (predeceased) obtained their green cards a year apart. After their baby son Néstor Franciso’s passing, Norberto (as he was known by family) traveled alone from Barrancabermeja, Colombia, one of the hottest cities in Colombia, to Milwaukee, Wisconsin where he worked as a car mechanic and encountered snow for the first time in his life. A year later Nubia traveled with a very young Nhorita, their firstborn, to join Norberto and reunite their small family. During their first midwestern summer in Milwaukee, they all wore sweaters as they tried to acclimate to a new culture, language, and weather. During the winter, they all marveled at the snow from the comfort of indoors after briefly taking Nhorita sledding for the first time. During their year apart, they communicated via letters (back then it took 2 weeks for letters to arrive) and one phone call. Keeping in mind that this was a time before the advent of the internet, iPhones or FaceTime, these early days of living in the U.S. were quite challenging. Nubia and Norberto maintained communication with their Colombian relatives through handwritten and typed letters as well as once-a-year phone calls. After settling in Milwaukee, a few years later, Nubia and Norberto were blessed with the addition of their beloved daughter Nancy, whose varied academic interests led them to explore more of Milwaukee. It was in anticipation of Nancy’s birth that Nubia’s mother came to the U.S. to live with them and help with the raising of her niñas. A few more years later, their youngest and beloved daughter Nicole joined the family bringing much joy to their lives. With three daughters in tow, Nubia and Norberto’s understanding of what it means for Colombian immigrants to raise hijas/daughters in the U.S. was complete. It was Nubia’s greatest pride that her daughters spoke Spanish at home, and English with their friends and teachers. She instilled in them a love and pride for Colombia. Like many immigrant Latino families in the U.S. Nubia and Norberto did not have college degrees, but they worked very hard to be able to offer their daughters many opportunities.

For Nubia, her abuela ‘Mamá Secundina,’and tíos Bruno, Jesús, and Pedro (all predeceased) were a significant part of her formative years and continued to be much loved and remembered by her throughout her life up to the very end. She would often tell her daughters of stories and lessons she learned while living with all of them in Mamá Secundina’s family house in the barrio Girardot–a humble home that is much smaller in scale but similar in the concept of familia that we see in the 2021 Disney movie Encanto. The Girardot house also included her beloved mother Paulina and sister Delia Guaracao (both predeceased)–together this large Guaracao family shared many moments of happiness and hardships, celebrations and births, yummy Colombian food (empanadas, obleas, arepas, bandeja paisa, brevas con arequipe, gaseosa Colombiana, tamales y chocolate to name just a few) and musíca santandereana together. Over the years, this very small home welcomed many Guaracao relatives (the family tree is really big) and gave many of them temporary lodging and sanctuary from extreme poverty. For a young Nubia, the Girardot home was this much needed place of refuge for her, her sister Delia and their mother Paulina. In her teenage years, she and her sister and mother went to live briefly in Bogotá to see if they could get better opportunities of employment and education. Naturally, in continuing with this idea of family support, they went to live with one of Paulina’s sisters, Regina and her young children. Nubia often spoke fondly of her tía Regina’s unwavering devotion to her children and her own dream that they all be educated, a quality that Nubia embraced when she became a mother herself.  Moreover, this idea of togetherness and family unity, including her love for Colombia, is one of the many gifts Nubia has bestowed to her daughters and grandchildren, and which lives on today.

For the majority of her adult life, Nubia lived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and surrounded herself with Colombian families, work friends, and friends from her church. Throughout her life, Nubia never forgot what it meant to be poor–she was very frugal. Yet Nubia was also very appreciative of everyone who helped her and her daughters thrive and soar. For these reasons and more, Nubia strongly believed in helping people and giving back to the community, a conviction that she instilled in her daughters. Yes, community service and volunteerism was important to Nubia. During her life, Nubia volunteered for many local organizations including her churches whether it was delivering and/or purchasing groceries for people in need, doing taxes for free for people in the community, participating in the Thanksgiving Meal on Wheels program, and helping out in soup kitchens. Nubia truly embraced the adage of ‘paying it forward.’

In Milwaukee Nubia worked as an accountant at Jos. Schlitz Brewing Company, Milwaukee Public Museum, and Milwaukee County’s Department of Aging. Although accounting and numbers are a universal language, Jos. Schlitz Brewing Company gave her the opportunity to develop her English and learn how to communicate; it also provided Nubia’s family with free beer and fun, free Christmas toys for the girls. During her time at the Milwaukee Public Museum, Nubia gained more leadership skills in management; she won the 1987 Fuller Bowl, a prestigious employee award that recognized her many invaluable contributions to the museum. At the Department of Aging, Nubia found great satisfaction in her work and friendships, and learned a lot about local government. Hard-working and responsible, Nubia’s sole objective was that her daughters could attend college, learn everything, and earn a college degree that would permit them to soar and thrive in their lives and to give back to the community. It is important to note, that while her daughters were young, she slowly pursued her college degree at night one course at a time; Nubia paid her own way through college while working, raising and supporting her daughters. It took her many years, but Nubia completed all of her college courses and she graduated with a B.A. in accounting from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. This work ethic for studying is another of the gifts Nubia has bestowed to her daughters and grandchildren.

Accompanying and supporting Nubia in all of her life’s ambitions and goals was her mother Paulina who lived with her–Paulina helped to raise the girls while Nubia was at work. Basically, Paulina lived with Nubia all of her life until her passing in 2008; and, in turn, Nubia was Paulina’s caregiver her entire life, a role Nubia took with the utmost dedication. Taking care of one another is a trait that Nubia instilled in her daughters–to watch out for one another and be a united front; in fact, in the last few years of Nubia’s life, Nicole was her devoted caregiver.

In these last few years of her life, Nubia’s days were marked by celebrating the academic and athletic accomplishments of her grandchildren Max, Ella, and Henry who are all in college, as well as celebrating in person the milestones of young Carlos “CJ” and Paulina “Lina.” Nubia was so happy to know that the next generation, her grandchildren, was succeeding beyond her wildest imaginations. While she had to work from a young age to support her family, it is in these later years where she was able to relax and enjoy being a grandmother–seeing Max at a track race, receiving letters from Ella, sharing a few weeks one summer with Henry, assisting CJ with his dinosaur diorama (she made clay dinosaurs for him), and helping Lina accessorize her dolls and comb their hair. An avid reader her whole life, Nubia enjoyed reading to her grandchildren in Spanish.

She adored all of her grandchildren beyond measure. In these past few years, Nubia especially enjoyed participating in CJ and Lina’s day-to-day activities and seeing them grow. As her daughters and their families gather to celebrate Nubia’s life and her accomplishments, they will give her thanks for all she has taught and given them; they will greatly miss her. There are many more gifts and lessons that Nubia left behind–Nubia will forever be remembered by this and much more.

Nubia is predeceased by her young son Néstor Francisco Serrano and her husband Carlos Norberto Serrano; she is also predeceased by her beloved mother Paulina Guaracao and sister Delia Guaracao. Nubia is survived by her loving daughters Nhora Lucía Serrano, Nancy Serrano-Wu (Mike), and Nicole Wanzer-Serrano (Darrel) and her treasured grandchildren Max Carlos, Ella María, and Henry Francisco Serrano-Wu, and Carlos Jesús (CJ) and Paulina Iris Wanzer-Serrano (Lina). Nubia is also survived by many, many relatives in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Spain, Colombia and abroad, and an abundance of friends in the US and Colombia. In lieu of flowers, her family requests donations be made to Hospice Brazos Valley in Texas. A visitation is being held on Tuesday, May 2, 2023 at 1 pm,  with a funeral service following at 2 pm at Callaway-Jones Funeral and Cremation Center, Bryan-College Station.

Donation link for Hospice Brazos Valley: https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/weblink.aspx?name=E350395&id=3