Noemi Irizarry Lather

Noemi Irizarry Lather was born on October 28, 1932 in Santurce, Puerto Rico to Juana Olivar Diaz and Juan Ramon Irizarry.  She lived in a neighborhood called Roosevelt in Hato Rey.  She grew up in a concrete block house, that had 3 bedrooms and cold running water, with her parents and her two brothers and sisters (Aglae, Idamis, Juan Ramon Jr. and Anibal).  She didn’t talk much about her childhood, except that they were poor and didn’t always have shoes to wear.  In the early 1950’s she moved to New York City to join her sister there and work.  She didn’t speak a word of English but got a job at a hat factory decorating hats.  She had many adventures there but returned to Puerto Rico after a year to be with her mother. 

In 1953 she met the love of her life, Conrad Lather, at a church dance.  She said she liked his friend and asked them what time it was, in order to break the ice.  She soon realized that Conrad was a kind, caring man who loved her cooking.  He would walk from the Army base to their house every week to eat gandules and rice or whatever was being served.   When they decided to get married in 1957 there were many who told her that Americans lied about their wealth and married Puerto Rican women to provide slave labor on farms.  Her response was that my dad already told her that he was poor and was going to be a school teacher.  My dad was told that she was not white and he shouldn’t marry her. They married anyway and had two children, Rachel and Yvonne.  They were married until Conrad’s death in 2016.

Noemi and Conrad traveled around the world on a shoestring and had many adventures in Europe, Asia, Central America, South America, Canada and the U.S.  They loved to dance to Latin music -cumbia, merengue, and salsa and would go out dancing at least twice a month throughout their long marriage.  She was a cute, funny, vivacious, unpredictable and imaginative person who loved to help others, especially her family in Puerto Rico.  She loved to cook, especially Puerto Rican food.  She also loved Tom Jones, Engelbert Humperdinck and especially, Elvis.

She died on December 5, 2021 with her daughters by her side.  She will be missed by her daughters, nieces, nephew, Uncle Cruz Irizarry (95 years old), her grandchildren (Clare Hidalgo, Derek Hidalgo, and Curtis Hyatt) and her cat Kali.