Sara Lavastida

Sara M. Lavastida, 82, devoted and much loved wife, mother and grandmother passed away on May 1, 2012 in her residence in Baton Rouge, LA. Sara was born on September 20, 1929 in the town of Cabezas in the island of Cuba. She later attended high school at el Colegio de las Ursulinas Ursuline College in Havana, Cuba where she first developed her love for playing the piano, a talent that she would use to delight guests at her house her entire life. In Cuba she would also obtain a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Havana. She was an elementary school and piano teacher in Cuba until her exile in 1962. On December 27, 1959 she married Attorney Jose A. Lavastida in Havana. Two years later they, together with their first born Jose Ignacio, left Cuba and settled in Miami, Florida where first in February of 1962 and then in January of 1963 they had two more children, Jorge and Teresa. In 1963, they moved to San Juan, Puerto Rico where her husband established himself as a prominent lawyer. It was there also that Sara, after several years of dedication to the care of her home and children earned a Master of Education degree with a concentration in guidance counseling from the University of Puerto Rico. She then exercised that career at the Academia del Perpetuo Socorro Our Lady of Perpetual Help in San Juan, Puerto Rico from 1979 to 1982. In 1982 after her husbands death from cancer, she relocated to Baton Rouge, Louisiana where her two sons had been pursuing their college education at LSU. She then enrolled at that university where in 1984 she obtained a Master of Arts degree and in 1995 a Doctor of Philosophy degree both in Spanish Literature. In the May 1995 commencement ceremony at LSU she was recognized for both graduating with Summa Cum Laude honors and for being the oldest graduate of the class at age 65. Sara taught Spanish at every level of the education system in Baton Rouge and at many schools of the area including LSU, Crestworth and Progress Elementary School, Belaire High School, Dalton and Glen Oaks Park Elementary and Middle Schools and Prescott Middle School. After retiring in 2002, her love of teaching continued to be strong and she dedicated time as a Spanish Instructor at the Baton Rouge Community College and at Notre Dame Seminary and Graduate School of Theology in New Orleans. Throughout her life Sara was very active in the Catholic Church serving in leadership roles in Cubas Catholic Youth Action Movement and the Damasco Retreat Movement both in San Juan, PR and LSU. She is survived by her children, the Very Reverend Jose I. Lavastida, Jorge Lavastida and Teresa Lavastida, Jorges wife Maureen and their children Emily Anne, Thomas Jose, Claire Elizabeth, Sara Marceline and Gianna Maureen her sisterinlaw Lourdes Mata, her niece Maria de Lourdes MataPantin and her children her sisterinlaw Alicia Romanach, with her children Julio, Jose Antonio, Lourdes, Carlos and Javier and their families her husbands cousins Pedro Portela and Elisa Brodbeck and their families. Jose Ignacio, Jorge and Teresa are very grateful to the many people who prayed and cared for Sara during her last year but especially to Margarita Quesada, Shannon Mayeaux, Rita Rangel, Argentina Rios and Cecilia Perez. Visitation will be at Resthaven Funeral Home on 11817 Jefferson Hwy in Baton Rouge from 6 to 9 PM on Friday May 4th and at St. George Catholic Church on Siegen Lane from 8 to 9:30 AM on Saturday May 5th. A Mass will be held at St. George Catholic Church on Saturday May 5th at 9:45 AM. Sara will then be transported to Miami, Florida where, after a memorial Mass at St. Raymonds Catholic Church she will be buried with her husband at Woodlawn Cemetery, Miami, Florida.

Visitation

Resthaven Funeral Home
11817 Jefferson Highway
Baton Rouge, LA  70816
Friday, May 4, 2012
6 pm9 pm

Service

Vistiation

St. George Catholic Church
7808 St. George Drive
Baton Rouge, LA  70809
Saturday, May 5, 2012
8 am 9:30 am

St. George Catholic Church
7808 St. George Drive
Baton Rouge, LA  70809
Saturday, May 5, 2012
9:45 am