Sylvia Jimenez Almeyda

November 3, 1917 - December 15, 2011

Sylvia Jimenez Almeyda was born on November 3, 1917 in Clifton, Arizona, a copper mining camp in Greenlee County. Shortly thereafter, Sylvia and her parents, Antonio and Josefa Gonzales Jimenez, moved to Miami, Arizona, where her father found laborer’s work at the Miami Copper Company. After graduation in 1935 from Miami High School, Sylvia worked as a nurses’ aide at the Miami Inspiration Hospital. In 1943, she became a member of the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corp. Within this program, Sylvia enrolled in St. Mary’s School of Nursing & began taking nurses’ training in Tucson, and graduated from St. Mary’s in 1945. By then, her soldier-husband-to-be, Alfred Almeyda, returned from his military service overseas, and returned to his home in Miami. He and Sylvia soon married & began their own lives in California, where they lived until 1986. As a registered nurse, Sylvia established an exemplary record of service in major hospitals in California, and over a period of 40 years, with a speciality in maternity and infant care.  Sylvia and Alfred Almeyda returned to Miami, Arizona in 1986 to enjoy a new life in retirement. The couple became active in community service work for the Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, the Miami Senior Center, and for the Bullion Plaza Cultural Center and Museum. Alfred Almeyda passed away in 1995. Sylvia Almeyda passed away on December 15, 2011, at the age of 93.