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Para ver esta página en español, oprima aquí. ASSOCIATED PRESSFormer First Lady Lila Hernandez Mayoral, 60, Led Hurricane Hugo Relief Effort
January 7, 2003 PONCE, Puerto Rico (AP) - Former first lady Lila Mayoral, who created a program to help those affected by Hurricane Hugo in 1989, died at home on Tuesday from colon cancer, her husband said. She was 60. Mayoral's husband, former Gov. Rafael Hernandez Colon of the pro-commonwealth Popular Democratic Party, was the island leader for three four-year terms–1972 -1976, 1980-1984, 1988-1992. Mayoral directed the government's Office of the First Lady during that time and created the nonprofit group "Give a Hand to Puerto Rico" in the aftermath of Hurricane Hugo. Storm surges swamped coasts with maximum tides of 20 feet (6 meters) in September 1989. Hugo was responsible for five deaths in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, 21 deaths in the U.S. mainland, and 24 elsewhere in the Caribbean. Mayoral organized a telephone fund-raising drive on Sept. 30, 1989, raising $15.6 million. The funds were distributed for home repairs, construction of new housing, community aid programs, and elderly programs, her husband said. Under Mayoral's leadership, the program built hurricane shelters in the outlying islands of Culebra and Vieques in the event of future disasters. The shelters, still operational today, have emergency generators and water cisterns, he said. "The Puerto Rican people will always remember the simplicity, goodness and generosity that characterized this great woman," said Gov. Sila Calderon of the same political party as Mayoral and her husband. As first lady, Mayoral also oversaw Three Kings Day celebrations at the governor's mansion during which officials hand out thousands of free gifts to children and their families. Funeral services will be held in this southern coastal city on Wednesday, including a memorial Mass in the Ponce Catholic Cathedral, her husband said. Mayoral is survived by Hernandez Colon and their children, Rafael, Jose Alfredo, Dora Mercedes and Juan Eugenio. The couple celebrated their 43rd wedding anniversary in October.
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