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A COMMUNITY UNITES

Irma Perez Remembered,
by Elizabeth Fajardo, The Inspector Staff Writer, July 2005

The tears come streaming down twenty-seven-year-old Imelda Perez's face, her brown eyes, inconsolable, as she recalls the final moments of her younger sister Irma's life.

"It was her first time sleeping out of the house. She never gave me any trouble. She always did well in school. I never had to tell her to do her homework. She knew about drugs. Drugs were never an issue in our home, like when I said, 'No.' I told her that drugs bring you down," said the surrogate mom, who helped raise her sibling. Still, it would be Irma's first taste of the chemical "E" or Ecstasy, that would take her life abruptly at the age of fourteen--the one 'first' that would kill a lifetime of dreams.

April 28th marked the one-year anniversary of Irma's death. To remember the life of the young teen the NFL Alumni Association sponsored the Irma Perez "Walk for Life" on April 23rd at Twin Pines in Belmont. Several celebrities joined in the event, as well as big sister Imelda, who shared her cherished memories of the girl who in life and death, touched so many.

"I miss the fact that she would've been someone special. She wanted everything in life. I remember everything about her: Her smile. She lived pictures. She had confidence--a lot of friends. I think she was a very pretty girl." Imelda said with pride, pulling out a photo from her wallet.

"Even though we went through a really bad time when my mom died, we still had our grandmother and our aunts. We have always been together. Every weekend we went to Roosevelt Park. She liked to come here and watch the boys play. New Year's was the hardest," Imelda continued, the face of her loved on staring back at her with chocolate-brown eyes and wavy dark hair glammed-up for the camera. She wears a grin that stays with you, like the tears that just won't go away.

Including Irma, who was named after her mother, there are eight Perez siblings in all: Francisco, Imelda, Elida, Erica, Elizabeth, Blanca, Jessica and Angelica. When the matriarch of the family was stricken with cancer in 1997, Imelda took over the role as caretaker and substitute mom. Mrs. Perez passed away in 1998.

"The adjustment was hard at the beginning. She left RWC to attend Ralston Middle School. She wanted to be the best. She was a very smart and outgoing girl. Her ambition was to be a big attorney," stated Imelda, who is also raising a teenaged son of her own. Irma also had one passion that superseded all others: Basketball. "She played basketball. She loved basketball and would watch the games on television," the older sister added, a smile coming to the surface as her face brightens up for the first time.

Today her thoughts are focused on the future of other youngsters, and on raising awareness of the dangers involved in abusing drugs. "If I could I would like to change the system to have drug dealers treated as adults. There's not much difference in three months. This one was 17-and-a-half," she said, referring to Irma's supplier.

"I would love to go to school to talk to the kids so they would know what happened. Some think she was drunk. It was Ecstasy. I just got back from New York and talked to high school kids there. I went with the Drug Enforcement Agency. I told them everything that came from my heart-the way my sister was and how this drug killed her. I went into detail and everything," she said. The lecture had such an effect on the students in attendance that some were moved to call her.

"These kids really touched me. When I was crying they were crying with me. I told them, 'I know some of you will still use drugs. But I want you to know what can happen.'" She added, "If I can change the mind of one person it will make me feel better."

It is a message given with hope, so that a precious life was not lost in vane.