Maria Celeste Pedroso-Cloutier

Maria Celeste Pedroso-Cloutier, 78, passed away peacefully at her home in Briarcliff Manor NY on June 30, 2015. Maria was surrounded by loved ones as she battled a debilitating lung disease.

Whether you knew Maria as Mom, Lele, Mobes, Celeste, Chief or another nickname, you knew she lived with an unbridled desire to travel the world, a passion for cooking and feeding family and friends, and a love of color and flowers.

Born in Lisboa, Portugal on March 24, 1937 to Augusto Pedroso and America Ferreira daSilva Pedroso, Maria Celeste is survived by her near and dear ‘little’ sister, Maria Paula daSilva Pedroso from Philadelphia PA, who was always by her side.

In 1942, after surviving capture in a WWII German U-boat with her mother and making newspaper headlines, Maria at the age of 5, along with her mother and another woman and child, made it safely back to Lisboa and lived to tell a harrowing story.

Later in 1957, while living in Sao Miguel, Acores, Maria Celeste married Ramiro da Conceicao Ribeiro Moura and had four children. Eduardo Jorge Moura of Marlborough NH, Lucia Margarida Moura of Rye NH, Jose Luis Moura of Portland OR, and Ana Moura Jaeger of Briarcliff Manor NY. Maria remarried in 1977, in New York City, to Stephen Walter Cloutier and has one step-daughter, Sandra Cloutier Gallagher of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Education was a reigning priority for Maria. She got her first degree from Concordia University in Montreal Canada and her second degree at Fordham University in the Bronx. Maria, her name at work, was a successful reinsurance executive with roots in luxury hotel financial management. She worked in Montreal at Fire Insurance Company of Canada, in New York City at Continental Insurance Company, at Christiania in Tarrytown NY, and lastly at Berkshire Hathaway in Stamford CT. Maria retired not once but twice! Her coworkers and staff always spoke of her integrity, aptitude and open-door as well as her patience when it came to training staff and following their careers as they grew and succeeded in their chosen fields.

It was 50 years ago in July 1965 that Maria immigrated to Canada with her then husband, Ramiro, her mother-in-law Judith, and her three children with one on the way. Maria lived with her family in Montreal until 1976. In 1977 she moved to Bethpage NY and the following year to Guttenberg NJ to find a place to call home in the United States. In 1980, Maria moved to Westport CT with her husband, Steve, and lived happily in Westport for 15 years until Steve’s passing in February 1994. Maria then lived in Fairfield CT and Stamford CT before moving to Briarcliff Manor NY in February 2014.

Maria is also survived by five grandchildren, Matthew Eduardo Moura of Chicago IL, Andrew Howe Moura of Marlborough NH, Rebecca Bartlett Moura of Boston MA, Camryn Rose Moura Jaeger of Briarcliff Manor NY, and Jack Joseph Moura of Portland OR. Maria is also survived by two nieces and two nephews living in CA and the Acores.

Services will be held on Friday, July 3, 2015 at the Waterbury & Kelly Funeral Home, 1300 Pleasantville Road, Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510 at 9:15 AM, The Reverend Dr. Bonnie Rosborough officiating. Interment will be at 11:00 AM at Willowbrook Cemetery, 395 Main Street, Westport, CT 06880. After the funeral, an informal gathering is planned to celebrate Maria’s life at the Finalemente Sconset Sq., 165 Post Rd. East, Westport, CT 06880   203 226-8500.

Our family would like to thank all of those who have helped us in caring for mom especially Hospice and Palliative Care of Westchester for their steady knowledge and compassion, Maxim nursing for their afterhours care, and to Linda Asaer, mom’s very own angel on earth who always knew just what to say, do and be so mom was comfortable and loved.

To honor our mom’s fight, donations may be made to Johns Hopkins Pulmonary Fibrosis Research Fund, 5200 Eastern Ave.,MFL Center Tower Suite 354, Baltmore, MD 21224

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