Annette Gonzalez

Annette Gonzalez is a lifelong Floridian and was raised in West Tampa, a Latin neighborhood. As a child, she was nurtured in this cultural environment and it influenced her desire to be a writer, speaker, and storyteller. She graduated from the University of South Florida in 1970 with a B.A. degree in sociology. She married Terry DeLisle and they have two sons, Jared and Jacques. In February 2006, when Annette struggled with coping with the loss of her mother, she began documenting her feelings. Five months later, her father passed away. This is when she began to write and speak publicly about her parents’ deaths. Annette believes that we need to treasure our parents while they are alive and honor them when they have passed.

Articles:

Open to  hope

Writing Poem Helps Woman Honor Mother and Granddaughter

My first granddaughter was born two months premature. My son and daughter-in-law gave her my mother’s name as her middle name. She weighed two pounds, six ounces when she was […]

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Open to  hope

What To Say When Someone’s Parent Has Died

By Annette Gonzalez — My parents died within five months of one another.  This was a most difficult time in my life, and I was looking to family and friends […]

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Open to  hope

‘Adult Orphans’ Need Not Lose Connection With Parents

By Annette Gonzalez — I am an adult orphan. I’m not anyone’s child anymore. Both my parents have died. There is no smooth transition from being a child in the […]

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