Blanca Lucia McAlpin

Blanca Lucia Valderrama Lievano McAlpin passed away early morning on June 28, 2024. 

Lucy, as so many in this country knew her, did not have an easy life; nor, as luck would have it, a simple one. She was born in Bogotá, Colombia to Miguel Lievano and Leonore Valderrama Lievano on December 6, 1935. She lost her older sister and first playmate, Gloria, to an infection early on. In 1955, she immigrated to the United States with her family, decades before Jackson Heights became “Little Colombia” in New York’s most diverse borough. She found her first job at a doll factory, where her small hands made up for her limited English. As she boldly approached her mid-20s, she met Walter McAlpin in a Manhattan church basement, at a dance she hadn’t sought to attend were it not for her sister Alicia’s need for a chaperone. Lucy became Mrs. McAlpin on May 30, 1959. They settled into their first home together in the Bronx, hosting parties and soon raising their four children. She was thrilled for motherhood. They moved their family upstate, where their children grew up alongside Lievano cousins. They went to the beach whenever possible, visited her extended family across the country, and even managed a few vacations to far-flung places. In her later years, she found depths of meaning in her Christian faith and her role as Grandma Lucy. She first toured (and last visited) her native Colombia in 2012. She renewed her decades-long expired driver’s license thereafter. She was a dedicated attendee to any performance, ceremony, or gathering her nine grandchildren were a part of. It should also be noted that she had an affinity for department stores, long phone conversations, telenovelas, and being silly in all the right moments.

She is preceded in death by her parents, four of her siblings, her devoted husband, and her eldest daughter, Linda. 

She is survived by three of her children: Theresa (Jorge) Alvarez, Walter McAlpin, and Maryann McAlpin-Giraldo; and her beloved grandchildren: Danielle Alvarez, Jorge Alvarez, Deanna (Daniel) Berin, Gregory Giraldo, Daniel Giraldo, Lucas Giraldo, Jake McAlpin, Kyle McAlpin, and Clare McAlpin. Her first great-grandchild is on his way, too.

Family and friends are invited to St. Francis of Assisi Church, 2 Green Street - Mount Kisco, New York 10549 on Monday, July 1, 2024 at 11:30 AM for a Mass of Christian Burial.   Blanca will be laid to rest in her family plot following the funeral mass at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York. 

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