In Memory of Betty: July 4, 2007

On behalf of the Santos, the Handems, the Piettes, the Jauades, the Leles, and other close family and friends, I would like to welcome everyone here today, and to thank you for joining us in this day of great sadness for our family, a day in which we pay our last respects to my dear sister Betty, who passed away after a year-long battle against breast cancer.

My name is Luisa Handem Piette, also known as Myrna. My siblings present here today, Rachid, Salwa and Adelino, have kindly asked me to say a few words about Betty. Laurindo, Armindo and Jamel, regret not being able to be with us today.

She was born Elisabete Handem in the small West African country of Guinea-Bissau, a former Portuguese colony, March 10, 1964. To us the siblings, she was our green-eyed baby, ‘the code’, the last of eight children by my parents Joao Said Handem and Luzia Zauade.

Betty spent the early part of her childhood in Guinea-Bissau and Portugal, and in her early teenage years she moved to the UK, followed by several moves back and forth to Portugal. In the late eighties she finally settled here in London, with her husband, Celio Santos, and her beautiful children, Susana, Joshua and baby Roxanne.

Betty wanted us, today, to celebrate her life, not her death. That is why she chose pink and white as the theme for her memorial. So, I will speak about Betty, and what made us so happy to be a part of her rich life here on earth. To many of us, the mere thought of Betty always brings a smile to our faces, a kind of light-heartedness that only she could create with that great big laugh and smile of hers. Betty smiled, even when her heart might have been going through sadness and turmoil, because she wanted to bring joy and peacefulness to her surroundings.

She was among the most loving human beings that anyone could ever have met. To her children, siblings, nieces and nephews, cousins and friends, she brought unparalleled joy and happiness. She was by far the most popular of aunts - a source of some slight jealousy on my part, or perhaps even of Salwa’s, I must now confess, as I could not win ‘the most popular aunt’ contest against Betty.

In memorializing her aunt, one of our nieces, Felisberta, said that what made aunt Betty special was the fact that you could just be in her presence and relax, joke around without fear of judgment. Our other niece, Anita, who spent the last few months lovingly supporting Betty during her treatment, told me that she simply made her feel at peace and loved. My own daughter, Natasha, who will read a dedication to Betty shortly, has often said to me that aunt Betty understands her so well …” because…oh mom, aunt Betty has a fashion sense, she joins me in watching my favorite shows, in reading my favorite magazines, and you know, just hanging out with her is fun” (the popular expression often used by American teenagers to describe socializing).

But, let me add - with a straight face - that one of Betty’s best known characteristics was her zeal and passion for light hearted gossip, the kind of gossip that also gave her the reputation of being the family’s reporter, the family’s world’s expert on “Who’s Who” in Hollywood, the main subjects of gossip in magazines and tabloids.

Betty, my dear sister, you will be sorely missed just for being you, for being the generous and unique human being that you were, the beautiful and humble girl that even in her darkest hour, and while enduring enormous suffering, made us all feel more important, and deserving of attention than yourself. You knew how to give, you took very little and you leave the world a better place, at least as far as your family and those closest to you are concerned.

WE LOVE YOU. PLEASE REST IN PEACE.

Luisa Handem Piette