- Date Of Birth: June 24, 1943
- Date Of Death: December 17, 2013
- State: Indiana
Alina Toma Ramos, 70, of Mishawaka, Indiana passed away at 9:20 a.m., Tuesday, December 17, 2013, in Hospice House, following a courageous struggle with cancer. Alina was born on June 24, 1943 in Bucharest, Romania to Alexander and Zinovia (Levitchi) Paradescu. She had lived in Mishawaka for 22 years, after immigrating from Romania. Alina retired in August 2010 from the Juvenile Justice Center (JJC), where she was employed as a Control Officer for 15 years. She had also been employed as a Homicide Investigator and Criminal Profiler in Bucharest, Romania for 20 years. On July 29, 2011 in Kalamazoo, Michigan, she married, with great joy, Hernando Ramos, M.D., who survives her. Other survivors include her daughter and son-in-law, Lumi and Peter Smith of South Bend, Indiana; and her grandson Emmanuel Smith of South Bend, Indiana. Alina was preceded in death by her parents, Alexander and Zinovia Paradescu; and her first husband, Nicolae Toma.
Alina was famous among her friends and family for her exquisite gourmet cooking and as a gracious and generous hostess. She was an expert seamstress and clothing designer, and her artistic talents included oil painting and all forms of needlework. She also loved gardening, music, and animals, and was a voracious reader of literature. Alina’s linguistic mastery was legendary, as a fluent speaker of six (!) languages: Romanian, French, Russian, Italian, Arabic and English. Alina was a member of Temple Beth-El and was known as a person of great spirituality and cosmic insight. She was an astute counselor to her friends and family and a dedicated guide and mentor to the children at the JJC.
