In Memory of Elsa Maria Rylands
Elsa Maria Rylands
Spouse: Alan Rylands
Children: Arthur, Albert, Adele, Alfred, Edward
DOB: December 18, 1953
Blessing: July 1, 1982
Passing: August 8, 2024
Seonghwa Ceremony: Saturday, August 17, 8:30 AM EST Edwards-Dowdle Funeral Home
Viewing: Friday, August 16, 4:00 pm-11:00 pm EST
GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/7d0327c4
Prayer Vigil: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZM1WVCd0Pa_4MaKlQezxUT58HFAGdgAo3pa4s7w2iZw/edit?usp=sharing
Send Flowers: https://www.edwardsdowdle.com/obituaries/Elsa-Mar-A-Rylands?obId=32651573
Elsa was born in Bogota, Colombia on Dec. 18, 1953. She was six when her family moved to Guaduas, a country village nearby, where her mother Sara got a teaching job. Elsa’s father, Carlos Parra, had just passed away. For eleven years she and five siblings traveled to the big city on weekends for plays, music, dance, and other social activities. Elsa enjoyed basketball and sports in general. She participated in choral events and was a theater/drama director for her fellow students. Everyone said that she was a very gentle and a sweet soul. She graduated High School in 1971 with two sisters. Elsa then worked with grandpa in Bogota and visited Tio Jorge in Puerto Rico before coming to the USA by May of 1974.
Elsa was then a governess for well-to-do families, ending November 1977 as she joined the Unification movement full-time in Tarrytown, NY. She did missionary-type work in the Bronx, NY until 1986, the start of her family. Elsa became a mom. She also was a naturalized USA Citizen and got the academic equivalentof Associate from CUNY Hunter College from 1997 – 1999. In 2000, the Rylands family moved to Ossining and Elsa was a Teaching Assistant at Ossining High School where she taught special education kids for twenty-three years. The kids and teachers adored her. Elsa also loved trips abroad with her sisters, daughter, and grandson. Lastly, she was involved in a communal garden and homeowners group from 2020. The fellow residents appreciated her so much.
She was introduced to Alan W Rylands, of Chicago, IL, on Dec. 30, 1980 and they became engaged at once. On July 01, 1982, Elsa and Alan were blessed in marriage at NYC’s Madison Square Garden, a Unification mass wedding with 2,075 couples. In 1985, about five years from when Elsa and Alan first met, they conceived twins. Arthur and Albert were born in 1986. After that came Adele, then Alfred, and finally Edward. It was five children in six years. Oh boy, the number of diapers seemed unlimited! They lived in a Manhattan apartment for three years before moving to a rental house in Forest Hills, Queens. The kids walked everywhere before Elsa got her driver’s license. Parks and reading were their favorite activities. Plus, Elsa and the kids relished the numerous driving vacations they took with Alan. At last, on Jan 01, 2000, the family moved into their own house in Ossining, NY, totally paid with help from Alan’s dad. It became a real home not just for Elsa’s family, but also provided an emergency home for close relatives and to welcome guests, mi casa es su casa. She lived there for the rest of her life.
Her husband Alan; her five children, Arthur, Albert, Adele, Alfred, Edward; her five siblings, Stella, Sara Patricia, Juan Carlos, Richard, Zelma; last, but certainly not least, the apple of her eye, her two-year-old grandson Robin; as well as an extensive extended family. Elsa is moving on to the third level of life, and will continue to bring love and light to the earthly and heavenly worlds.
