Obituary

Dina Kesikowski was born Dina Domitila Santillána Flores on April 25,1925 in Hacienda Chiclin, La Libertad, Perú, the daughter of Alejandro Saavedra and Dolores Domitila (Veloche Flores) Santillána. She died on March 11, 2023 at her daughter’s home in Laguna Hills, California at the youthful age of 97.

Dina spent most of her childhood in Chiclin, when her father Alejandro decided to move his family to the larger city of Trujillo, Peru so that they could have a better life and education. She spent her adolescent life in Trujillo, with the help of her older sister Juana, she was sent to peruse her dream of becoming a nurse and she went to study in the capital of Lima. She graduated from the Clinica Anglo-Americana-Escuela de Enfermeras on August 7, 1949.

On a “lark” she volunteered and had the courage to leave her native country of Peru, never to return at the age of 31 years old to work and pursue a better life in Chicago, Illinois, where she worked at the American Hospital. She met and married our late father Daniel “Alô” Aloysio Kesikowski on June 13, 1958 and withhold her vows “until death do us part” in 1987. Our mama was a hardworking registered nurse for over 50 years until she retired at the age of 75. Dina was strong and very independent even as she aged, she refused to use a cane or a walker, insisting on getting out of any car on her own and would always scold us for trying to help her walk or walk upstairs, extraordinarily strong willed. She loved classical, opera and jazz music. She enjoyed old Hollywood films, a glass of wine while watching her favorite program the Oscars, Sees’ candy, and ice cream. Her favorite flower was daisies, but our father always gave her red and white carnations. Our mother was a true fighter until the end.

Dina is survived by her four children, Denise, Daniel, Dora, and David, and her two grandchildren, Alex and Michael. She was preceded in death by her husband Daniel, her sister Juana and brother Angel.

There will be a small memorial for close family and friends on March 30, 2023, at 2:00 p.m. at the O’Connor Mortuary at 25301 Alicia Pkwy, Laguna Hills, CA 92653.