Mary Percy Mestre's Obituary
Mary Percy Mestre, known to her many loving family members and friends as “Percy”, passed away on February 4th in Tampa. Percy was born in Havana, Cuba on June 28th, 1956, and immigrated to the US in 1961 with her mother and siblings, fleeing Fidel Castro’s dictatorship which held her father as a political prisoner for eighteen and a half years. She lived in Miami Beach for three years and then moved to Lutz and Tampa where she lived for the rest of her life, except for a 10-year period in which she lived in Miami. Percy went to St. Lawrence Catholic School from 4th to 8th grade and graduated from Tampa Catholic High School. For most of Percy's life in Tampa and Miami she was a corporate travel agent, and she also worked as a Bilingual Spanish Aide in the Hillsborough County Public Schools.
Percy was beautiful, warm, vivacious, intelligent, personable, friendly, fun, witty, and generous to all she met, especially her family and friends. She loved reading, movies, the beach, television, good food, travel, and, most of all, spending time with her family, to whom she was totally devoted. Percy was the best daughter, sister, aunt, godmother, cousin and friend, and she will be greatly missed by her large, extended family as well as her many friends.
Percy is preceded in death by her mother Mary Percy Mestre Roberts, her father Ramon Mestre, stepmother Carmen Mestre Trueba, brother-in-law William (Bill) Whitley, niece Sofia Whitley and nephew Wyatt Whitley.
She is survived by her sister Adelaida (Addy) Whitley, her brothers Ramon, Peter and Jose (Pepe) Mestre, her sister-in-law Pamela Mestre, her nieces Jolie Mestre and Layla Whitley, nephews Ramon and Peter Mestre and Taylor Roberts, and her cousins and best friends who were like siblings and nephews to her, Barbara, Sia, Nicholas and Andrea Mollanazar.
Percy is also survived by her aunt Estela Roberts and uncle Alex M. Roberts Jr., her first cousins Eugene (Butch) Roberts Jr., Maria Engel, John Roberts, Yvonne Rivera, Leandra and Qoomars Mollanazar, Estela Miller, Alex M. Roberts III and Natalie Roberts, along with countless loving relatives in the United States, Mexico, and Spain.
Visitation will be on Saturday, February 18 from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm at Boza & Roel Funeral Home, 4730 Armenia Ave. in Tampa. Eulogies and prayers will take place between 12:30 pm and 1:30 pm, with graveside services to follow at 3:00 pm at the Centro Español Memorial Park Cemetery located at 3300 N. 46th Street in Tampa. In lieu of flowers the family asks that donations be made in Percy's name to New Beginnings of Tampa Inc., 1402 E Chilkoot Ave., Tampa, FL 33612, or Metropolitan Ministries of Tampa, 2002 N. Florida Ave., FL 33602 as Percy was passionate about helping the poor and the homeless.
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