Catalina M. Albonetti, 82, of Naples, Florida passed away peacefully on July 3, 2020, after an exceptional life. She was born in Marianao, La Habana, Cuba, on June 15, 1938, youngest daughter of the late David Hipolito Garcia-Feito and Maria Teresa Fernandez Suarez-Solis.

 

She is survived by her spouse, Joseph G. Albonetti, and their daughter, Catalina Evelyn Albonetti, son-in-law Richard Stangl, and Grandchildren Catalina Maria Stangl and Richard Gregory Stangl. She was preceded in death by her late sister Maria Teresa Garcia-Feito de Sterling, and is survived by her sister, Margarita M. Garcia-Feito. Also surviving are nephews Rafael Sterling and Jorge Sterling, niece Maria Teresa Sterling, their spouses, and numerous in-laws, nieces, nephews and cousins. Catalina was particularly close to her dear sister-in-law Quinta M. Albonetti, and brother in-law Edwin Hoseus of Cincinnati, and to her cousins Lourdes Rubiera and Ezequiel Cuevas.

 

Catalina was educated at the Sacred Heart Academy in Havana. In 1957, she graduated from the Escuela Normal para Maestras de Jardines de la Infancia with a Bachelors in Early Childhood Education. Among her early accomplishments in Cuba, Catalina was a concert pianist, and the Women’s National Squash Champion. Strongly anti-Communist and pursued by Castro’s secret police, she escaped out of Havana Harbor with her sister in late 1961, seeking asylum in Colombia. In Medellin, Catalina taught Kinder for many years, later continuing her teaching profession in the United States. Catalina met her husband in Medellin, where he was working with the U.S. Information Agency, and the two shared a 45-year love story. A strong yet humble person, she was a devoted, loving mother, and her family and friends will fondly remember her deep Catholic faith through life’s many struggles and vicissitudes.