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July 20, 1967 – April 20, 2022
My Sweetie Pie, Lea Cuniberti-Duran, 54, of Redwood City, passed away Wednesday, April 20, 2022. Lea was born in Brescia, Italy, the daughter of the late Ferdinando Cuniberti and survived by her husband Steven ( Pumpkin Pie), Children: Max( Scoiatolino), Alessandro (Alessandrisimo), and Ben(Benisimo); mom Anna Dalprato, Zia Sonjia, Zia Ana, Cujini: Belinda, Fabrizio, Dileta, Nicola, Daniele, Emma, Agatha, Lorenzo, Grazia, Barbara, Mea, Monica, Sara ( ‘Topalina’) Suzy and Barbara, Dominico, Ginette, Giovanna, GianDomenico and Heim, The Duran family, The Misfits( you know who you are) and many friends, near and afar.
Lea and I met in Santa Cruz-California under the most romantic conditions. We explored that love together and shared many moments about the future while sitting on the beach, having breakfast, and looking out at the ocean. We spoke of our past, present, and future using any beloved movie line: “As you wish”, “ I protect you…..I’m the fifth Element- supreme being”, “Ogres are like onions…(They stink?… they make you cry?..leave them in the sun and they sprout little white hairs.” There was no limit to reference beloved shared actors, music, movies, or books. Even classic interactions with random people were fair game. Our moments were many and chronicled. If there is a movie about Lea, I think it will be called The Advocate.
Eventually, we put down roots in Redwood City where we started a family; three sons-outrageously gorgeous and talented. They are the love of our lives and display their mother’s love, passions, humor, and sensibility( As she would quib me, my contribution was very minuscule, if anything- a running joke about how insanely gorgeous and talented our children are and whose gene pool is responsible…?). The truth-it was all her.
A graphic designer by trade, she taught herself new tools and skills and built a career as a User Interface Designer. She had many superpowers due to an insatiable desire to convey a simple message: How can I make ‘it’ better to understand and use? (because it has to work,… and beauty alone does not cut it…..beauty can come later). She chased that message by asking questions and testing the data. She repeated the process until the desired outcome. If you could not see Lea’s vision, she talked to you about it. Always open to discuss and learn from that discussion, but also willing to go toe-to-toe and discuss flaws; not on a personal level, but convey the benefit of reaching anyone’s need to use it. Make ‘it’ for everyone: the birth of holistic tool(s) or implement(s) that remove(s) the cumbersome distractions that stifle ingenuity; pure intention. All of us who knew Lea grieve the loss of Iron Woman, our Fifth Element.
OK, now… I’m perseverating in grief but this is not about my slant on things…I think through our shared experience before CaringBridge we came to understand about the benefit of keeping everyone in mind. The chronicle over the past year was a journey with an intended happy ending to look back upon. Another movie reference quote to think about,” Does the benefit of the many outweigh the benefit of the one?” Instead of thinking of it as a coin where the flip side is the alternative answer, think of it as a ring, a middle that grapples with the question, an amorphous cloud; and a continuous circle where we share points in our lives. I think Lea wants us to continue the journey with our shared experience and be genuine and loving and seek to improve the middle aspects and tease the tangle of challenges with each other in mind.
In closing, I leave the aspect for you to ponder and reach some semblance as I must learn to look in the mirror. Together is the path; one step at a time.
All my loving Hope and Peace, Pumpkin Pie.
Arrangements entrusted to Crippen & Flynn Woodside Chapel
