'Small in stature but big in heart'
The beloved soldier is remembered for her spiritual fervor
Loved ones of U.S. Army Reserve Sgt. Myla Maravillosa said while she prepared to go to war in the Middle East, God had plans for her.
"God was preparing her for heaven," said Sister Susan Kraus, who worked with Maravillosa at the Daughters of St. Paul bookstore.
Maravillosa, 24, an interrogator who was assigned to the 203rd Military Intelligence Battalion out of Maryland, was in Iraq for a little more than a month when she was killed on Christmas Eve by a rocket-propelled grenade while she and other soldiers were in an armored Humvee.
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM
Teresa Cabaron comforted the victim's mother, Estelita Maravillosa, yesterday.
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Family and friends packed inside Our Lady Of Peace Cathedral downtown yesterday as they remembered the life of Maravillosa, a soldier with wishes of becoming a nun. While living on Oahu, Maravillosa was a parishioner at Our Lady of Peace and would often visit the sisters of the Daughters of St. Paul religious bookstore and volunteer there.
Maravillosa was the only child of Estelita Maravillosa, who brought her daughter over from the Philippines as a 16-year-old in 1997.
Gov. Linda Lingle met with Maravillosa's mother for about a half hour before the services yesterday. The governor said after the meeting that Estelita Maravillosa wants to go back to the Philippines to build a memorial for her daughter.
"She's devastated ... especially this being her only child," Lingle said afterward. "But she's so proud of her daughter, she was such a wonderful person ... she left 20 percent of her life insurance to the church."
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM
Estelita Maravillosa was comforted by a family friend during the memorial service for her daughter, Sgt. Myla Maravillosa, held at Our Lady of Peace Cathedral. Maravillosa was killed in Iraq by a rocket-propelled grenade while riding in an armored Humvee on Christmas Eve.
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Friends said Maravillosa joined the Army Reserve to help pay for college and was enrolled at Leeward Community College and had been accepted at Hawaii Pacific University when the call came to go overseas. Her fellow soldiers said at first, the quiet, petite woman had a hard time going through training to become an interrogator, but that her perseverance carried her through.
"She broke out of it," said Chief Warrant Officer Inocencio Cacho. "When she came back she was more assertive, taking charge like a sergeant."
Those who knew her said Maravillosa loved visiting cathedrals and religious centers wherever she went. In an e-mail to Kraus prior to going to Iraq, she described her feelings after one such visit: "I've found a peacefulness, and I just wish it would never end."
Maravillosa's cousin, Darlene Rodrigues, said Myla "loved to travel ... had a wonderful sense of humor."
"She was small in stature but big in heart."
Maravillosa is also survived by her aunts Bernarda Rodrigues and Laurencia Lumayag and cousins Gloria Ann, Darlene, and William Rodrigues Jr. Her family also said she has many relatives still living in the Philippines.