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Cecile M. Caguicla: Preserver of Flowers

 

At the house in Boonton, N.J., that Cecile M. Caguicla shared with her friend Maria Luciano, there are flowers everywhere -- dried hydrangeas and other delicate varieties, suspended in time. Miss Caguicla knew how to preserve them so their beauty would never fade.

She chose them from the buckets filled with blossoms at the farmers' market that was always outside the World Trade Center on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. She was a steady patron of the market, buying baked goods from one vendor, cheese from another, stopping there on her way to morning Mass at St. Joseph's Church. On Sept. 11, "we separated at 8:10, and she was paying for a blueberry muffin," Miss Luciano said. "She always bought pastries for her office mates. It was a happy morning."

Miss Caguicla, who was 55 and had emigrated from the Philippines in 1975, was a vice president in the corporate accounting department at Marsh & McLennan. Her friend is planting a garden in her memory, with hydrangeas and sunflowers and geraniums &emdash; some of the flowers she liked best. There will also be evergreens, to last forever.

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From "Profiles in Grief" of The New York Times