Caray, Caray!

This news is shocking . You could tell Anita was struggling with that very last comment she made. I can not believe she is gone from us, but then I still cannot believe the equally sudden loss of the love of my life almost two years ago . Dealing with a sudden, unexpected loss is devastating . I cannot believe that we will never have the pleasure of reading another delightful , witty recap or comment from our dear Anita. I am so sad and will miss her voice on Caray. Anita was a special soul.
 

With Anita, as with Madalyn and Carlos, we are blessed with being able to go back and read their old recaps from time to time. And enjoy their comments on the blog line. They all gave so much to this site, and thanks to the internet, their words and their wit, their warmth and their insights, will always be with us.

And we carry them in our hearts as well.

But still, just feel like burrowing my head in a pillow right now to weep.
 

Descanse en paz. ❀ Que Deus e a Deusa a abençoe.❀
 

Descanse en paz. ❀ Que Deus e a Deusa a abençoe.❀
 

Thank you, JudyB, for this beautiful tribute to our beloved Anita. I did not have the privilege of knowing her as long as most of you, but I remember we bonded over Quiero Amarte, Cristian de la Fuente and the beautiful music. It was a daytime story and we tag teamed it with some other friends. I was so happy to have her greet me when I came back a few weeks ago. She is one of the reasons, she was one of the people I remember that exuded warmth and welcoming through the words in her posts and which drew me back to Caray. She didn't have to, but she volunteered to spell me from time to time after one of the other novelas ended and, true to her word, she took a Friday and two weeks later took August 28 to help me in a time of need. And did she! She covered a double episode, yes, with all the detail, wit and flair Judy described above! She did this for all of us. My God. I know Anita's soul is at rest in a realm we cannot imagine but which she richly deserves. I pray comfort and peace for her family, which is unimaginable now, but will grow with time. If it can be even a small part of that comfort, please share these tributes with them, anyone who has personal contact with her family. Coming back to work with Anita, her words of encouragement after my absence and her selfless act even when she was, herself, in great need, is something I will never, ever forget.

Muchisimas Gracias and Rest in Paradise, Beloved Anita!


 

Anita was a positive force on this blog as an outstanding writer and a wonderful colleague. I will miss her unique point of view as well as her energy and talent. It is a sad day.
 

I'm so shocked. What a loss for the Caray community. She gave so much to this blog.
 

Oh my. This is so very sad. Anita was such a positive person on Caray. I didn't see many of her recaps because of being mostly on Telemundo, but she was so helpful to those of us who share duties of putting up the pages.

And, yes, JudyB, what you wrote about Anita was perfect.

I also remember Carlos.
 

I just found her last post. (It is here.) It broke my heart. Something was very wrong. But that is not how I will remember her!
 

Julie, it is unimaginable, isn't it ? Anita will be missed . She contributed so much to making Caray the warm, lively,fun filled place it is with her recaps and comments. She cared about everybody here. I never met her, but I certainly felt that I knew her.
 

This news about Anita is so very abrupt and so sad. She was a wonderful member of the patio and such an accomplished recapper. We will miss her analytical skills, her humor, and her ability to summarize an episode.
Thanks to Rgv Chick and Judy B for letting us know. Wishing for sweet Anita to rest in peace.
 

I haven't been watching as much so haven't gotten to interact with her, but my sympathies to all she left behind. She was part of really nice online community and will be missed.

Kelly
 

It is always sad to lose a good friend and Anita was that to all of us here. She came up to New York several times and we went to the Met, once to see a "double header." I don't think anyone else I've ever known loved life more than she did. If I were religious I would be imagining her listening to Caruso and Pavarroti as I write this. Anita, you are missed mucho.
 

This is truly shocking and sad. I didn't meet Anita either, but I came to know and admire her as a friend and fellow blogger, especially after we took over the blog. She was a woman of great knowledge who used her wit, talent and generous heart to make our world a much better place; and the legacy she left us with will live on.

Vaya con Dios, Amiga, y que descanses en paz 😢
 

It is such a shock that Anita is gone and I'm sad for her family and all of us. She had a wonderful library of Telenovela information, factoids, and trivia and was a generous with it and as a recapper. It doesn't seem real that she is no longer with us.
 

"How come out saddest sadness comes from what was our most joyous joy?"
- Ziggy

Anita gave us so much joy through her wit and wisdom , so now we pay the price of sadness for the joy she brought to the patio.

When I commented that I had used up all my yarn during quarantine, Anita emailed me offering to send me some yarn she had.

P.S.I think that Anita would want me to share with you that my battle with my inexpensive tablet and Autocorrect continues ....It changed ziggy to soggy three times in a row and then changed soggy to doggy. I think Anita is giggling sonewhere...I hope so.

 

Anne/our Anita was always there to pull us up and over the mark--and she gave so much of herself to this blog. To read that she has left us forever leaves another hole in my heart. Judy B. thanks for this tribute to her. You caught her essence. She has left quite a little bit of herself here on these pages. Anita, QEPD.
 

A beautifully written and heartfelt tribute Judy.

Anita was an indomitable force, blessed with a vibrant and vivacious spirit. She was intelligent and fierce and generous in her support of all of us. She was so kind, including everyone in her comments and making us all feel a part of something special.

Her recaps were legendary but her writings for Un camino hacia el destino will always be particularly special.

Anita visited Massachusetts periodically and we communicated a bit about trying to get together. Now but a dream that will not come to pass.

Life is so precarious, so precious. I am hearing "Gone Too Soon" which will reverberate in my mind and heart.

She will live long in our memory. Goodbye dear one.

Diana
 

And thank you to Rgv Chick for posting this.

Apologies, I shut off my computer at noon yesterday and feel just terrible I didn't see this sooner. I just read this a bit ago and still trying to process.

Diana
 

It's good to see so many familiar names gather here to pay tribute to Anita. She did so much to make Caray the kind of place that made us feel that we were all part of a lively, lovely,tolerant community. Perhaps those we have lost are still here in some form.

Jardinera, yes, another hole in our hearts.
 

Diana yes, it is hard to process. I find that I am having trouble getting myself going today. There has been a lot to process in our world lately. It is amazing how close you can feel to someone by just reading their words on a computer screen. It shows how we are all connected in some mystical , inexplicable way. I knew that I had to let my friends here at Caray know about the loss I had almost two years ago, and Anita emailed me with empathy and gentle kindness. Anita always reached out to people.
 

What a wonderful tribute to Anita. JudyB, so well-spoken. Thank you.

Anita always made me laugh on Caray. Her recaps, comments, and those "special news reports" she conceived on TN characters. I especially remember the "news reports" on "Amores Verdaderos." Simply hilarious.

When Anita organized a lunch out for Carayers in the Mid-Atlantic region and I got to meet her, she was in person just what she was on Caray. Friendly, witty, and oh so smart. It was a fun outing and in fact all the Carayers there were some sharp, zesty folks.

I'm glad that Anita had the chance to let us know she was ill that day. Somehow it touches me that she was sharing with the Caray community at a difficult moment and knew we were feeling for her.
 

Yes Susanlynn, this news was particularly devastating. Caray Caray has always been a caring community but another loss of "one of our own" is heartbreaking.

Our hearts and prayers go out to Anita's family. We've all tried to be there for each other during tragedies almost too painful to bear. While we can't always know or have firsthand experience in what each other is experiencing, kind, empathetic caring transcends that chasm.

Diana
 

I am so sorry to hear about Anita. My condolences go out to her family and friends!
 

Hi All,

I hope everyone on here is doing good and staying strong in the face of all that is happening.

I am deeply saddened by Anita's passing. She will be greatly missed here on the patio and by whoever she touched in her life, offline and on.

The first time I spoke to her was after reading her UCHED posts, which she started singlehandedly, as others slowly trickled in after her. So much love and detail went into her posts and such humor and wit.

It was sudden but I know she would be proud to see how many she touched and how many will remember here.

Wishing everyone lots of love and light and strength and thank you Anita for all your efforts.
 

RIP Anita 😔

My deepest condolences to the family.
 

Hello Patio,

I was so sorry to hear this sad news. I haven't been around that much, but caught some email from our fellow recappers and found this out yesterday. Anita was such a joy to have around and when I first came here as a recapper, she helped me out a couple times when I was in a pinch. Anita was the kind of person you could really count on here on this patio. I just want to wish her family my deepest heart felt sympathies. May God bless you all.

Love,
Cynthia
 

I was asked to repost this from my Medicos recap as Anita's family may receive these beautiful comments as a tribute to their beloved. So, here it is.



Greetings, everyone. I am not going to presume to be able to pay a fitting tribute to our dear friend, Anita. I had the pleasure of “meeting” her through this blog when we were on the team that recapped Quiero Amarte in 2015. I just looked at my email this morning, and found one from her where I had been hospitalized and she was so supportive and encouraged me to NOT think about the blog but to take care of myself; she and other friends would cover my days. This is the same heart with which Anita offered and complied beyond all expectation, with her promise to cover the double episode of Friday, August 28. Her recap, posted August 29, is a six page powerhouse of detail, wit, humor and character analysis. Like her cast list, this recap serves as a valuable reference for anyone hoping to understand this story. Watching, writing about and discussing novelas is a hobby, a pastime, and for some, a passion to which they bring their time, their knowledge, their heart and soul. That is what Anita brought: her whole self, to the very end. I know that what I shared of her life on this blog was a only a small facet of her real, full life but that facet is brilliant and I will always remember her on this blog and in my life. Rest in Paradise, Dear, Beloved Amiga! Anita!
 

This is very sad news, but I thank JudyB and Rgv Chick for letting us know.

I am deeply saddened and I'm going to miss Anita terribly. I have been coming to Caray for about three years now and I "know" some people quite well and some hardly at all. Anita was one of those I felt I knew well and I was always happy to see her name because it meant a recap or a comment that was well worth the time to read. They were always intelligent and insightful, and often expressed appreciation of other folks here at Caray.

We had a running gag about "El hotel de los secretos". She watched it when it first aired several years ago and then watched it a second time when it aired again recently late nights. I was also watching it, but recording it and watching it when I could. When it ended, it ended with a bang, and Anita asked me what I thought. But I hadn't seen the ending yet and with the press of other things I just never found the time and was thinking I would have to drop back a few episodes to refresh my memory.

Every once in a while Anita would ask me if I had watched the ending yet and I always had to tell her no, but Real Soon Now. And in truth I was looking forward to telling her I had seen it and it was as good as she had said.

When I finally do watch it I'll post a little note for her to let her know.

One last thing, in what I believe was her last post here she wrote "I’m going through the wringer wit this illness. It got so bad that I almost called 911 on Sunday morning."

Anita, I wish you had called 911, it might have made a difference.

RIP

Andy
 

Thank you, dear JudyB, for letting me know about Anita. It won’t be easy to accept that she’s gone. Her wit and her joy seem too vibrant to have been extinguished. I suppose we have to content ourselves with having had the great good luck of knowing her as long as we did.

The thing that impressed me most about Anita was her exquisite courtesy. (And as we know, courtesy and kindness are two sides of the same coin.) She was one of the most sophisticated people around here, a well-educated, well-read, well-traveled woman, but she never used her gifts to bludgeon others. On the contrary, like a good mother, she went out of her way to find us doing something right and to praise us for it. Every now and then she would send an email my way questioning or correcting something I had written, but not wanting to embarrass me on the blog.

What a kind and generous soul she was. And funny as hell. I only wish I had met her in person.

May her memory be a blessing.
 

Anita and I split Fridays recapping on several different telenovelas, and we always had a lot of fun. But the real slumber party was when just the two of us recapped the entire run of CORAZON QUE MIENTE because we loved it so much -- wow, were we tired at the end! I'll always picture her in Alternate Puebla, riding the Escape Bicycle down to the Park of the Lost Necklace. Descansa en risa, estimada colega.
 

I went to the Caray Carey web sight
As usual and found that an angel of a woman is no longer with us.

Glad to know it wasnt covid but it
Don't lessen the pain of loss.
I remember Anita fondly. She loved my since of raw humor. She will be missed from this patio. Her recaps were amazing. I hope her family can
Somehow read these messages of love to Her from her patio pals.

You will be missed Anita.
Rest in the Blessed peace of God♡
 

To Anita:
❤🦋⚘❤⚘🦋❤
 

"I’m going through the wringer wit this illness. It got so bad that I almost called 911 on Sunday morning."

Andy, "Anita, I wish you had called 911, it might have made a difference."

You echoed my exact feelings when I went back and read Anita's last message. I shivered.

For whatever reason, I hadn't seen it when she posted it.

I will join you and urge anyone and everyone reading this to please, when your body and are mind are telling you that you are in trouble, call for help. Immediately.

I know it's difficult. When my brain aneurysm ruptured (which I had no idea I had), despite trying to deny it for a split second, knewsomething was terribly off. Calling 911 (along with God) saved my life.

This is not about me. Not at all. It is simply about listening and acting on what you are being told. Do it for yourself. Do it for those who love you. Do it for those whom you love.

Diana
 

This is devastating news. She was such fun, and a genuinely nice person. I still have my much treasured Telenovela Beanie that she made and mailed out to whoever wanted one.

R la O
 

RIP, Anita.
Condolences to her family.
So going to miss her.
2020 ... YOU SUCK!!!
 

I'm beyond shocked to read this, I haven't opened my google account in a while ...

Rest in peace, amiga, I will always remember your kindness and witty banter. As I read your posts I see that most of you have personal memories of her. I guess she was just that kind of person who took the time to be nice and invest on relationships, virtual or not.
Who am I going to fight with over Cristian de la Fuente now?
 

I am gutted to hear about the passing of Anita. Her wit, eloquence but most importantly her kind heart will be remembered.
I am going to miss seeing her wonderful recaps and witty comments here on Caray.

Irene
 

Thank you so much, Judy, for posting this tribute to our Anita. It took me a week before I felt I could come here and write something. Anita and I were exchanging chatty/catch-up emails just two days before she passed, and I still cannot believe she is gone.

Our birthdays were 35 years and 1 day apart, and we only lived a few miles from each other. Over the years, we've gotten together for plays, concerts and dinners here in the DC region. Those meetups were always filled with fun and laughter, and Anita had everything to do with that. She was a really lovely person-- a bright light to all around her. I will miss her tremendously.
 

Here is Anita's Obituary:

Anne Llewellyn (Gropp) Meglis
April 25, 1940 ~ September 2, 2020 (age 80)


Anne Llewellyn Meglis of Greenbelt, MD died September 2, 2020 after a brief illness. She was born April 25, 1940 in New Orleans, LA to Arthur E. and Dorothy M. Gropp.

Anne spent her early childhood, from 1942 until 1950, with her parents in Montevideo, Uruguay, where her father established the first American library, the Biblioteca Artigas-Washington. Those early experiences of Latin American culture and language — mixed with Anne’s love of books, reading, and history — would shape her career and life.

The family returned to the US in 1950, settling in Washington, DC. Anne graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1958. She began her college studies in History at Douglass College (Rutgers University) and completed her Bachelors in Urban Studies at the University of Maryland (Class of 1973). She earned her Masters in Library Science from The Catholic University of America in 1976. Anne held several librarian positions within the DC government and wrote a book, A Bibliographic Tour of Washington, DC. She spent the latter part of her career, from 1993 until her retirement in 2008, as Law Librarian for the Corporation Counsel of Washington, DC.

Marriage and motherhood diverted Anne from her studies in the 1960s. She was a creative parent and helped establish a local Montessori school for the community. Following her divorce in 1970, Anne relocated her family to Greenbelt, MD where she remained until her passing.

In Greenbelt, Anne shared her passion for the town’s history, one of three completed 1930s “New Deal” planned communities, while she served as a docent at the Greenbelt Museum. She loved Art Deco design and architecture and traveled with friends and family to New York City regularly. She also loved opera and organized group trips to follow her favorite tenor’s performances. She was conversational in four languages and was still completely fluent in Spanish. Her passion during her retirement was recapping and translating Spanish telenovelas into English for “Caray, Caray!” her beloved online blog community.

Anne was a devoted daughter, mother, mother-in-law, grandmother, friend, and ‘adopted’ mother to many who considered her family. Anne made new friends everywhere and a trio of friends who met in Library School remained lifelong friends. Although she was small in stature, she had a huge heart and gave her time generously. The nurturing of these relationships, especially long-distance, frequently led to visits across the globe. She was the driving force behind family adventures, including return trips to her birthplace, New Orleans, and Montevideo. Her bright smile, effervescent personality, love of languages and culture, generosity, and fearless pursuit of a joyful life set a living example for those whose lives she touched.

She is survived by her son Andrew Jeffrey Meglis (wife Barbara) of Acton, MA; daughter Irene Llewellyn Meglis (husband Geoff Halferdahl) of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; grandchildren Grant Withington Meglis (wife Sahyli) of Minneapolis, MN and Peter Withington Meglis of San Francisco, CA; cousin Otis Molz of Deerfield, KS; former husband Andrew John Meglis, and extended family in the US and Europe.

Interment will be private. Donations may be made in her name to the Friends of the Greenbelt Museum (greenbeltmuseum.org) and the Metropolitan Opera Guild (metguild.org).
 

Oh Vivi, my heart just aches. And somehow those almost twin birthdays (okay, separated by decades also) were just another wonderful link between you two. Sounds like you were perfectly matched in joie-de-vivre and overall delight and interest in the world. We are all feeling the loss of Anita, but oh my...how much you must miss her actual physical presence.

Sending you lots of hugs and loving thoughts...and many many thanks for including that beautiful obituary. They say a life well lived is when born, those around you laugh with joy and when you die, those around you weep with sorrow. That is certainly true in Anita's case. She meant so much to so many. Sharing your sorrow and sending you love, my friend....

RGV CHICK is the one who had the grace-filled idea to place a Tribute Page to Anita. I just contributed a few words.
 

Thank you for the obituary, Vivi. I only knew Anita here on the blog, but I knew she was quite exceptional and accomplished. We miss her dearly.
 

A big thank you to RGV Chick for letting me know about Anita's passing. I've been away from the Patio for several years and I can't believe Anita is gone. I only knew her through Caray Caray, but I remember her fondly. It was very kind of of the Patio leadership to give her such a lovely tribute.
 

Vivi, thanks for providing us with Anita's obit.

It sounds like you two had some nice times together.

I never met Anita in person, but I felt like I knew her. Her voice will certainly be missed here at Caray. Amazing how close you can feel to someone you have never met in person . I am shaken by her sudden passing . She reached out to me two years ago when I lost the love of my life . She was so concerned and kind to me at that time. Now she is gone , too.
 

Anita was indeed very special and she shared her gifts generously. She will be missed and will join Madeline and Carlos in "Caray Caray in the Sky"💔
 

Thank you, RGV Chick, for providing this space for us to celebrate Anita. And we really should celebrate her. She was a little dynamo. Always cheerful. Always up for adventure and fun. She is definitely having a fiesta up in heaven right now, and gathering up Madeline, Carlos, and many other amigos to join in the fun.
 

I like imagining Anita having a fiesta with Mads and Carlos up in heaven. Definitely sounds like a possibility and it's such a comforting thought. Thanks Vivi.
 

RIP, Anita, as you join the Caray, Carat Heavenly Patio with our dear departed Madeline and Carlos.