Iria Carioca Ferreira

http://videos.lifetributes.com/318186 Carioca Ferreira (Iria Machado Ferreira) September 10, 1927 ââ‚"" June 25, 2012 Carioca Ferreira, 84, of Venice, FL, loving wife, proud mom, and very proud grandma, previously of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, died at home on June 25, 2012, with her family by her side. Carioca grew up in Brazil in a family of five children. Daughter of five star general Jose Bina Machado and Florinda Kohler Machado, she moved with the family on army assignments throughout Brazil and many locations abroad, including Washington D.C. where she learned English. Carioca received higher education in nursing and social work in Rio de Janeiro. She trained as a surgical nurse and assisted in many of the first open heart surgeries in Brazil. Social work took her to the favelas (slums) of Rio where she helped victims of abuse by working undercover with authorities to catch abusers. She even served as entertainment director aboard a cruise ship for a short time. In the mid 1960s, Carioca went back to Washington D.C., and met her beloved husband Louie, whom she married in 1966. They moved to Venice in 1969 with their young son Joe. Carioca was well known around Venice for her volunteer efforts at Epiphany Church and school, Senior Friendship Center, the American Cancer Society, as well as numerous fundraiser events. Carioca was an independent and strong person who did not like to take no for an answer. She was very proud of her nursing/social work career, being a wife, mother and grandmother. Among her friends she was known as the “crazy Brazilian”, and was always the life of any party, and the sparkle of her Louie’s eye. She had a great sense of humor and claimed to be the “worst cook in the world”, even making a trophy bearing those words. If you were her friend, there was never a doubt in your mind that you could count on Carioca. Her grandchildren were everything to her in her later years, and to them she will always be “Grandma Lollipop”. Bon Voyage Mom (Manzinha), we love you. Survivors include her son, Joe and wife, Pam and grandchildren, Louie, Bobby, Sophia, and Andrew of Venice; sisters Teresa Paiva and Felinha Santos and many nieces and nephews of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A Mass of Christian Burial is scheduled for Monday, July 16, 2012, 10 AM at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Venice. Service Information Date: Monday, July 16, 2012 Time: 10:00 am Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church Address: 1301 Center Road, , Venice, FL, 34292 | Map