Obituary: Eilyn Marie Maldonado, 16, of Waterbury

Obituary for Eilyn Marie Maldonado courtesy of Casey’s Eastside Memorial Funeral Home and Cremation Care

WATERBURY - Eilyn Marie Maldonado, age 16, of Waterbury, passed away peacefully surrounded by the love and comfort of her family at the CT Children’s Medical Center in Hartford after a brief but very valiant fight against osteosarcoma. She is the daughter of Evelyn Ferrer and Edwin Maldonado.

Eilyn was born on August 14, 2005, in Waterbury. She graduated from SS Peter and Paul School and attended Holy Cross High School. While she enjoyed being a student at Holy Cross after the closing of Sacred Heart, her real love was during her days at Sacred Heart High School, where she felt accepted; there was one of the best days of her life. Eilyn was a bright and charismatic young lady who enjoyed her family, her friends, the arts, and athletics immensely. Her dream was to be an exceptional basketball player. She has played basketball since the age of five years old. She dreamed of going to Sacred Heart High School and playing on the basketball team, which she worked relentlessly for through traveling teams - CT Heat, Vale, and CT Rebound. Eilyn attained this goal when she joined the Sacred Heart basketball team. Her next goal was to make the team at her new school, Holy Cross High School – where she recently completed her junior year.

There is so much that could be said about this energetic, active, intelligent young lady, but above all, those whose lives she touched will remember how she always cared for everyone else, so much more than herself. In addition to athletics, she loved using her brain’s creative side through arts such as drawing, painting, and photography. She even loved to build with Legos due to the beauty and art of architecture. Even during the most challenging days of her illness, she was not worried about herself but her family and friends. We pray that she now rests in the loving arms of Our Lord, pain-free, where she can continue to watch over her family and friends.

Left to cherish her memory, besides her parents, are her brothers; Elijah Jackson, Edwin Maldonado, and August Maldonado, her sister; Siobhan Jackson, her maternal grandparents; Zimka and Antonio Ferrer and her fraternal grandparents; Francisco and Francesca Maldonado, several aunts, uncles, cousins, and so many extraordinary friends.

Funeral services for Eilyn will be held on Friday, July 22, 2022, at 10:00 a.m., when a Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, 74 West Main St Waterbury, CT. Burial will be held at the convenience of the family. Relatives and friends may visit with Eilyn’s family on Thursday, July 21, 2022, from 4:00 till 8:00 p.m. at Casey’s Eastside Memorial Funeral Home and Cremation Care, 1987 East Main St. Waterbury, CT 06705.

However, if you are able, attending a service is a thoughtful, caring, and supportive thing to do. Loving-kindness is always welcome; it only takes a moment to offer a message of condolence, words of comfort, or share a memory with the family and friends of someone important to you —please do so at the funeral home tribute page at www.caseyfunerals.com

Message from Holy Cross High School Principal, Mr. Tommy Pompei

Dear Holy Cross:

As you may know, yesterday, our beloved Eilyn Maldonado was welcomed into heaven and the loving arms of our Lord after her inconceivably brave fight with cancer. For all of us and the innumerable people who knew and loved Eilyn, it is so difficult to feel anything but sadness today for her struggle, for her mom, Evelyn, and all of her loyal friends and loved ones, and for ourselves as we ache from losing her brilliant light from our own lives. In a single calendar year, Eilyn’s fierce spirit permeated the halls of Holy Cross High School and inspired all of us to join her in her fight as friends who could not possibly help but to fall in love with the person she was. Her toughness, resolve, and passion for life were awe-inspiring, and as a parent, the selfless companionship and endless love that Evelyn gave Eilyn is as admirable and beautiful a thing as one will see in God’s world. We will miss Eilyn always.

With all of these emotions in mind, we would like to share the following for all of you who knew and loved Eilyn.

This Wednesday, July 20th, Holy Cross would like to invite any students and friends of Eilyn’s to our school to simply have a place to be together from 10:00am-12:00pm. Mr. Pompei, Ms. Xeller, Mr. Wilson, Mrs. McGarrity, Dr. Pellegrino and others will be here in the library. We will also have social workers here should any students choose to speak with them.

On Wednesday evening from 7:30pm-9:00pm, we will host a candlelight vigil in honor of Eilyn. This is open to anyone from the community who would like to attend. The Holy Cross and Sacred Heart communities and all those whose lives have been touched by Eilyn can be together as one.

Mr. Tommy Pompei, Principal