April 27 2019: GREGORY, Claudia

Claudia  Gregory (Age 96)

On Friday, April 19, 2019, of College Park, MD.  Beloved wife of the late Luis E. Gregory; mother of Victoria (Juan)  Bartolomei, Oscar (Lydia) Gregory, Anabelle (David) Pollock,  and Luis (Meivel) Gregory;  aunt of Angie (Frank) Ervin and numerous other nieces and nephews; sister of Oscar Echandi, Paulina (“Pini) Echandi Rodriguez, Hilda Pepita (“Pepi”) Echandi;  Also survived by 16 grandchildren and 21 great – grandchildren.  Relatives and friends may call at Collins Funeral Home, 500 University Boulevard West, Silver Spring, MD, 20901 (Valet Parking), Sunday, April 28, from 2 to 4 pm. Memorial Mass will be celebrated at St. Camillus Church, 1600 St. Camillus Drive, Silver Spring, MD, 20903 on Monday, April 29, at 10 a.m.  Interment Gate of Heaven Cemetery.  In lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be made to Society of St. Vincent de Paul (by website or, if you prefer to send a donation by mail:  Society of St. Vincent de Paul, National Council of the United States, 58 Progress Parkway, Maryland Heights, MO 63043-3706).

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Claudia Gregory’s Obituary

Claudia Echandi Gregory was born in 1923 in San Jose, Costa Rica to Oscar Echandi Valverde and Claudia Echandi.  The Echandis, a prominent Costa Rican family, provided Costa Rica with a painter, Enrique Echandi (1866 – 1959), and a president, Mario Echandi elected in 1958. Claudia’s brother, Oscar Echandi served a as Vice Minister of Agriculture. Claudia’s sister, Pepi, was on the Board of Directors for the Central Bank of Costa Rica. Claudia is survived by her brother Oscar, age 101, Paulina (“Pini”), age 94 and Hilda Pepita (“Pepi”), age 84.

As a young girl, Claudia loved to visit a family farm, Juan Vinas, which she described as a paradise. There she could go anywhere she wanted. She climbed trees, went swimming & fishing and even rode a small horse named Coco, bareback.

At age 11, Claudia’s family moved to Alajuela. From age 12 to 18, she attended a Convent boarding school run by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Sion where classes were only conducted in French. She studied Catholicism deeply, attended Mass daily and planned to become a nun until she “discovered boys”.

At age 25 Claudia witnessed the Costa Rican revolution of 1948, precipitated by the Costa Rican Legislature’s annulment of opposition candidate Otilio Ulates election earlier in the year. Jose Figueres led a rebel army to victory over President Teodoro Picado. Figueres established a provisional government and oversaw the election of a Constitutional Assembly which then established a new 1949 Constitution. He then stepped down and handed power back to Otilio Ulates. Claudia was in favor of the rebels but refused to sew a rebel uniform for one of her cousins. She remembers a general strike in support of the rebels and then a great celebration in the streets when the government finally fell.

While working at the Inter American Institute, Claudia met Luis Enrique Gregory, born in Puerto Rico, a scientist from the USDA working on a project examining the uses of rubber.  They fell in love and were married in 1953.  They lived in Los Angeles, California with Claudia’s eldest daughter, Victoria.  Luis attended UCLA to complete a PhD in Plant Physiology.

In Los Angeles, Claudia worked a several jobs with Mexicans, including a job wiring TVs and a job sewing handbags. She discovered that Spanish speakers were so widespread that she had no need to learn English.

When the family moved to Baltimore, Claudia was now forced to learn English. She took 2 courses, read crime magazines, comic books and spoke English to as many people as possible. She remembers that her first English words were: “Kiss me again” and “ham and eggs, please”. She also attended Secretarial School where she learned bookkeeping, short hand and typing.

The family moved to the Washington DC area, where Oscar and Anabelle were born.

Luis and his young family were transferred to the USDA station in Puerto Rico in 1958 where the youngest son, Luis Roberto, was born. They stayed there for nearly 10 years. Claudia described the USDA station as “a paradise” to live in. She did not have to work and met people from all over North & South America. She started and was president of the Inter-America Club. She remembers tea parties in the mornings, dancing on the beach in the evenings and house parties on the weekend.

In 1959, during a flight from Miami to Puerto Rico, Claudia had a brief but memorable brush with the Cuban Revolution. During a stopover in Havana, armed soldiers stormed the plane and ordered everyone off. Despite her husband’s pleading, Claudia refused to leave, claiming that she could not wake a sick infant asleep in her arms. Somehow, the soldiers allowed only Claudia to stay on the airplane unharmed, while they ransacked through all the luggage.

In 1967 the family moved to College Park, MD where, in addition to raising 4 children, Claudia was the Manager and Bookeeper for Crescent Nursery & Summer Camp for 30 years. During that time, she managed to bring the accounts “from being in the red to black”.

Around 1973 Claudia began working actively with her beloved St. Camillus Parish. She worked with Meals on Wheels, made hospital visits, was both a Hospitality Minister & Eucharistic Minister at Mass, collected donations, worked with abused women and taught adult religious education. Claudia completed a pastoral ministry certification program, Education for Parish Service (EPS), a two year program at Trinity College of studies in theology, scripture, liturgy and other church-related disciplines. She also attended daily mass for 30 years.

Claudia was an inspiration and constant helpful motivator to several generations of her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, who have fond memories of visiting and learning from “Nanny” over the decades.

Claudia Echandi Gregory, died on Good Friday at age 96. She was hospitalized four weeks ago due to difficulty in breathing, first at Holy Cross, then at Hill Haven Rehab Hospital. Despite every effort to help, including an oxygen mask, lung treatments, etc, for 4 weeks, every breath was a hard, muscular effort, an oxygen hunger that cannot be medicated away. Her mind remained conscious and clear but at the end, all her life’s energy was focused on fighting bravely for one breath after another until she suddenly stopped breathing and her heart stopped at 8:14 in the evening.

In her last weeks of life, Claudia told the family and her priest that she was at peace and felt that God had spoiled her with many blessings throughout her life.  May she rest in sacred peace with all those she loved and served.