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Miriam Bileca
Miriam “Mickey” Jean Bileca
February 25, 1939 – December 6, 2024
Miami, Florida – Miriam “Mickey” Bileca, born 2/25/1939, passed away peacefully on December 6 in Miami. She was surrounded by her children and family members during her final days. Mickey was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and immigrated to the United States during the Second World War at the age of three. Her passage to America was not an easy one. The ship she and her mother Sara had boarded was torpedoed by the Nazis as it approached the coast of the United States in March, 1942. After a number of weeks lost at sea, their lifeboat was rescued by the US Coast Guard, but by then her mother Sara had perished.
Her life was marked by these tragic events and she spent each day afterwards as a testament to the miracle of her survival. With her husband Dennis, whom she married in 1960, she created a home filled with unwavering love, loyalty, kindness and an openness to all who were in need of an embrace. She grew up in Brooklyn, NY and later attended the University of Bridgeport, where she and Dennis first met. For over 35 years, she was an impassioned and gifted career educator of elementary school-aged children, first in New York and then in Miami. But her lessons far exceeded the space of her classrooms. She touched the lives of countless students, friends and family members through her acts of generosity, kindness, attentiveness, and quiet guidance.
Mickey was the beloved wife of Dennis Bileca for 50 years, who predeceased her in 2010. She will be dearly missed by her brother Errol and his family, and her four children and their spouses Steven & Angela, Michael & Vivian, Sari & Ricky, and Allison & Shawn. Her greatest joy was spending time, especially with her eleven grandchildren — Daniel, Alexander, Gabriel, Benjamin, Nathan, Ella, Noa, Zander, Tye, Reed, and Jax. Her fondest wish was to transmit to them the values of unyielding love, loyalty, and constancy she cherished so dearly.
A Memorial service begins promptly at 1:30 followed by the burial service on Sunday, December 8th at Riverside Gordon Memorial Chapel at Mt. Nebo, 5900 SW 77th avenue, Miami 33143. In lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations to be made in Mickey’s memory to the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America: alzfdn.org.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Published by the Miami Herald from Dec. 7 to Dec. 14, 2024.
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