Eilyn Marie Maldonado

Special young woman who loved basketball

WATERBURY - Eilyn Marie Maldonado, age 16, of Waterbury, passed away peacefully surrounded by the love and comfort of her family at the CT Children’s Medical Center in Hartford after a brief but very valiant fight against osteosarcoma. She is the daughter of Evelyn Ferrer and Edwin Maldonado.

Eilyn was born on August 14, 2005, in Waterbury. She graduated from SS Peter and Paul School and attended Holy Cross High School. While she enjoyed being a student at Holy Cross after the closing of Sacred Heart, her real love was during her days at Sacred Heart High School, where she felt accepted; there was one of the best days of her life. Eilyn was a bright and charismatic young lady who enjoyed her family, her friends, the arts, and athletics immensely. Her dream was to be an exceptional basketball player. She has played basketball since the age of five years old. She dreamed of going to Sacred Heart High School and playing on the basketball team, which she worked relentlessly for through traveling teams - CT Heat, Vale, and CT Rebound. Eilyn attained this goal when she joined the Sacred Heart basketball team. Her next goal was to make the team at her new school, Holy Cross High School – where she recently completed her junior year.

There is so much that could be said about this energetic, active, intelligent young lady, but above all, those whose lives she touched will remember how she always cared for everyone else, so much more than herself. In addition to athletics, she loved using her brain’s creative side through arts such as drawing, painting, and photography. She even loved to build with Legos due to the beauty and art of architecture. Even during the most challenging days of her illness, she was not worried about herself but her family and friends. We pray that she now rests in the loving arms of Our Lord, pain-free, where she can continue to watch over her family and friends.

Left to cherish her memory, besides her parents, are her brothers; Elijah Jackson, Edwin Maldonado, and August Maldonado, her sister; Siobhan Jackson, her maternal grandparents; Zimka and Antonio Ferrer and her fraternal grandparents; Francisco and Francesca Maldonado, several aunts, uncles, cousins, and so many extraordinary friends.

Funeral services for Eilyn will be held on Friday, July 22, 2022, at 10:00 a.m., when a Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, 74 West Main St Waterbury, CT. Burial will be held at the convenience of the family. Relatives and friends may visit with Eilyn’s family on Thursday, July 21, 2022, from 4:00 till 8:00 p.m. at Casey’s Eastside Memorial Funeral Home and Cremation Care, 1987 East Main St. Waterbury, CT 06705. However, if you are able, attending a service is a thoughtful, caring, and supportive thing to do. Loving-kindness is always welcome; it only takes a moment to offer a message of condolence, words of comfort, or share a memory with the family and friends of someone important to you —please do so at the funeral home tribute page at www.caseyfunerals.com