Angela ARAMINAS

1922 - 2022

ARAMINAS,

Angela Urbonaviciute

Nov. 19, 1922 – Feb. 16, 2022, Preceded in death by her husbands' Bronius Araminas and Albert Mealy. She is survived by her daughter, Irene Araminas Niemeier and her son-in-law, Robert Scott Niemeier.

Angela, my mother, was an example of resilience and strength. She left her home country of Lithuania with her then fiancé in the middle of World War II. She was in her late teens. She and her fiancé took shelter from the war front in Germany and were assigned to a labor camp. Food was scarce, they both labored under near starvation conditions, and

hoped for a better day.

She survived a simultaneous infection of Typhoid Fever and Diphtheria while in Germany. Sometime after the end of the war, they married in Germany, and were ultimately sponsored through Catholic Charities to come to the U.S. Her trip on a ship to the U.S. was miserable, she was violently seasick the entire trip. They landed with the clothes on their backs, and $10 between the two of them. She had become a pharmacist assistant in her homeland of Lithuania and worked as such in Germany.

Upon arriving in the U.S., Angela worked as a maid for the sponsoring couple. After a year or so, she and my father left to be on their own, working in factories, learning English, starting a life. She was industrious, thrifty, and hardworking, helping my father start a business while also holding down various jobs, raising me, and keeping an immaculate house. She loved flowers, animals, music, dancing, and children. She learned to play Bridge for the first time in her late 60's and did well.

After my father's death, she married Albert Mealy. They were very happy for 14 years, and she cared for Al while in her 80's and he in his 90's until his death. In her late 80's, mandatory eye surgeries took their toll on her independence, which she fought to preserve tenaciously.

At 96 she fell and broke one hip, seven days later the other, and went on to survive until her passing 3 years later upon contracting COVID-19. May she now find peace and rest.

Services will be held private. www.boppchapel.com.