In Memoriam: Mrs. Patricia Vergara Silva

Everyday life turns strangers into friends and friends into family. Sadly, it also brings us disheartening moments through silenced farewells, unexpected departures, and indescribable losses. That was the case on Friday morning, October 7, when our beloved secretary and friend, Mrs. Patricia Vergara Silva passed away.

We will always remember and keep her legacy of compromise, empathy, and her fight for equality. Patricia Vergara Silva entered USACH by the end of 1997, when she served as secretary in the Faculty of Medical Sciences and the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration. She joined our department in December of 2007 as Direction Secretary and carried out her duties for 10 years. At the beginning of 2018, Patricia became Postgraduate Secretary, providing services to the Master in Linguistics and Master in Latin American and Chilean Literature programs. For almost 15 years, DLL was almost like her second home, where she was known for her joy, tenderness, dedication and compromise, qualities that left a permanent mark, not just in our Department, but also in our hearts.

Her funeral took place on Sunday, October 9th at the Cementerio Metropolitan after a last visit through the USACH. This was a very emotional moment for all her colleagues and friends who were waiting with white balloons at the parking lot near Casa Central, where they relived every moment and memory lived with Patricia throughout her life.

The DLL Community was dismayed with the sudden and early loss of Patricia. The countless messages through social media and e-mails emphasize her smile, voice, warmth, sense of humor and, above all, pride in her children. This pride was also shared by us since her daughter Valentina also became part of the USACH. Patricia’s loss leaves an unfillable void in our Department, a void that sometimes becomes irreconcilable with the new reality. However, just like the female fighter that Patrica was, we must live through our mourning, expressing our thanks for the chance to have met Patricia and made her part of our lives and our families.

On behalf of the Department of Linguistics and Literature, we thank all your messages and displays of affection towards our dearest Patricia. Our thanks to everyone that could join her family and friends through these tough times. It is exactly in these kinds of moments where the sense of community and company of a solidary and affectionate group of people can help to deal with the loss of Patricia.

Farewell, dearest Patricia.

DLL Community 2022.