Gordana Varela Obituary (1931 - 2015)

Gordana Schimmel Varela died November 25, 2015 in Tucson, Arizona. She was 84 years old. She is survived by her daughter, Erika Schimmel, and her sisters Militza Georgevich English and Lilliana Boskovich. She was preceded in death by her first husband, Douglas Schimmel, and her second husband, Americo Varela, to whom she was married for 32 years. She adored her niece and nephew Denise and Jeff Georgevich of Manhattan Beach, CA as well as her niece Tamara Boskovich Parr, Tamara's husband David Parr and their children Samantha, Nick and Jack Parr, all of San Anselmo, CA. She was born in Belgrade, Serbia in former Yugoslavia on February 21, 1931 to Milorad and Vukosava Stojadinovich. She immigrated to the United States in 1948 with her mother and two sisters and became a naturalized citizen in 1953. She studied at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign before earning her Bachelor of Arts in Education at Northern Michigan University in 1965. She received her Masters in 1968 at the University of Madrid. Her flair for drama enhanced her teaching skills as a Spanish teacher at Southfield Lathrup High School for 25 years before retiring. She and Americo moved to Sun City in Tucson, Arizona where together they traveled the world for many years. Never one to sit still for long, she continued to actively travel making journeys abroad with her niece Denise, and later her daughter. When her health declined, Erika moved from the East Coast to live with her and tend to her mother's needs. A lover of beauty, she enjoyed the vast skies and mountains of her home in Tucson, tending her flower filled garden, swimming at the pool, and playing with her cats. She had a lifelong passion for the fine arts, including literature, drama, opera and she explored different cultures both in person and through foreign films and reading. She volunteered at the Veteran's Hospital, where she enjoyed lifting the spirits of the wounded warriors and making them laugh. She is fondly remembered by all who knew her for having an insatiable curiosity, a gregarious personality and a natural instinct to entertain and charm people of all ages with her storytelling and endless jokes, always ending with her nodding tagline: "yah, yah... that's a good one, eh?" which earned her the moniker of "The Joke Lady" of Sun City. Her disarming smile, hearty laugh and zest for life will not be soon forgotten.