Nina Combopiano (1971-2005)

I was just reading the obituaries in the Palladium-Item and discovered a high school friend of mine has passed away. I hadn’t spoken with her in quite awhile but I considered her a good friend back in school. She died at the age of 34, leaving behind a husband and two children. She was smart, funny, pretty, and kind. Great with languages. I have no idea what the details of her death were. But, it’s yet another reminder not to take anything for granted. Not to mention, another reminder that being one of the good ones doesn’t mean you’ll last. Rest in Peace. And, strength to her family.

Update 8:00 p.m. 5/9/05: Through the magic of Google, I have received contact from a few people who came across my blog while seeking information about Nina and her death. I’m not sure it’s my place to be the one to share this information with the world, so if any of her family would like me to remove some or all of this, I’d be happy to do so. But, working from the assumption that they would not mind, I learned that Nina’s death was unexpected. She collapsed in the kitchen and was taken to the hospital on Thursday (5/5/05) where she was diagnosed with a double pulmonary embolism. She did not recover and died early Thursday afternoon. (Note: I’ve changed this information from the original entry to correct some errors I made.)

Here is a picture which captures perfectly how I remembered her: consumed by laughter when something struck her funny, which was often:

Here is how her obituary read in the Richmond, Indiana Palladium-Item:

Nina C. Combopiano

Former Richmond resident Nina C. Combopiano, 34, of Skokie, Ill., died Thursday, May 5, 2005.

Survivors include her husband, Michael Whitney; children, Claire Rebecca and Katherine Ann; father, Charles Combopiano; and brothers, Michael and Kevin Combopiano.

She was preceded in death by her mother, Claire Combopiano.

Funeral Mass will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Sheil Catholic Center, Evanston, Ill. Visitation will be 4-9 p.m. Monday at Donnellan Family Funeral Home, Skokie, Ill.

Memorials may be made to Northminster Nursery School, 2515 Central Park, Evanston, IL 60201, or the music program at Sheil Catholic Center, 2110 N. Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60201.

Originally published May 8, 2005

Update 10:15 a.m. 5/11/05 At the risk of angering the Chicago Tribune’s copyright lawyers, here is the write up in the Tribune from May 10, 2005:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/obituaries/chi-0505100261may10,1,344830.story
NINA COMBOPIANO, 34
Translator always willing to volunteer

By Stephen Franklin
Tribune staff reporter

May 10, 2005

It was a last-minute plea for help like many others that Nina Combopiano rarely turned down.

After being asked recently to cook Sunday dinner for 40 homeless persons, she agreed, saying she would simply add a few more portions to the tuna casserole she was already making for her family.

“She would always step forward without any questions. Her response would be, `I’ll take care of it,'” recalled Harriet McCullough, a volunteer coordinator for meals cooked at Hilda’s Place in Evanston through the Sheil Catholic Center at Northwestern University.

Ms. Combopiano, 34, died Thursday, May 5, of a pulmonary embolism at Rush North Shore Medical Center in Skokie.

Her generosity and skill at putting others at ease struck family and friends as only one measure of her zest for living.

She delighted in gatherings, big and small, at her Skokie home, and spending time with her children, Claire, 4, and Katherine, 3, playing and singing along with them. And she loved cooking and dining, especially discovering new foods such as the Malaysian dishes she explored with neighbor Maureen Ang.

Languages fascinated Ms. Combopiano, who graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in Italian. She spoke German, French and Spanish and also knew Japanese and the American Sign Language.

She took pleasure in translating documents into Spanish for the Cradle, an adoption agency in Evanston, realizing that it would help Spanish-speaking families, said her husband, Michael Whitney.

And she made a point of teaching a new word in Spanish or sign language everyday to the children at the Mother’s Day Out program at Northminister Presbyterian Church in Evanston, where she worked part-time, he said.

She also helped with an Italian version of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, translated for Ogden Entertainment, an international booking agency, and did multimedia projects in Spanish for Sears, Roebuck and Co.

Her love of languages came early on.

When she was growing up in Richmond, Ind., her father, Charles, was the conductor of the Whitewater Opera Company in Richmond and the Sorg Opera Company in Middletown, Ohio, and her late mother, Claire, was a lyric soprano, who performed with both companies.

Her parents made Ms. Combopiano and her two brothers part of their opera world, where they were extras or members of children’s choruses, and plunged them into a rich stew of music and language.

Once, during a stint in Florence, Italy, where her father was taking part in a fine arts program run by Earlham College, her parents realized their daughter’s easy embrace of other languages.

“While playing with her dolls, she would speak this Italian sounding gibberish,” her father recalled.

Update 5/18/05 There is a Guest Book through Donnellan Family Funeral Service.

Besides her husband, father and daughters, she is survived by two brothers, Michael and Kevin.