MariaLúcia Bezerra Dayton Trezise, known in The Valley as “Puzas,” died on February 26, 2013, at the home of her son Art “Tuco” Trezise in Gunnison, Colorado, where she had relocated in October to be close to Art, his wife, Heather, and their three small children. Both in Vermont and in Colorado, Puzas received the extraordinarily competent and loving care of the Central Vermont Hospice of Barre and the Gunnison Valley Health Hospice in Colorado.
Born in the city of Barretos in upstate São Paulo (Brazil) to Ilnah Lima Bezerra and Francisco de Assis Bezerra, Puzas completed her post-graduate studies at the Faculdade de Psicologia Sedes Sapientiae in the capital city of São Paulo, later working there with abandoned children – putting to use her lifelong love for, and dedication to, children. She moved to Rio de Janeiro in 1960 as an auditor for the Brazilian Ministry of Finance, then returned to São Paulo when she married Arthur Dayton Trezise of St. Albans, New York, who had been transferred to Brazil by his employer, the American Can Company.
The couple’s three children, Bridie, Arthur and Patrick (“Patico”), were raised in Brazil, went to American schools there and came to the Mad River Valley for summers and skiing. They also studied at Fayston School and at Harwood, living at their Mad River Glen home while their father was between jobs overseas. Bridie and Patrick both graduated from the University of Vermont; Arthur has degrees in chemistry from Metropolitan College of Denver and in law from the University of Denver.
Upon her retirement, Puzas accompanied her husband in his second career as a United States Foreign Service Officer in assignments to São Paulo, Bogotá and Paris. With her working knowledge of Spanish and French, combined with her warm personality, she counseled single mothers on a regular basis in a religious shelter in Bogotá and smoothly helped her husband in his social responsibilities as commercial counselor of the American Embassy in France. Since 1994 the couple resided both in Vermont and São Paulo. MariaLúcia, the 11th of 12 siblings, leaves her sisters Silvia Câmara and Neusa Reiff plus a beloved team of 42 direct nieces and nephews in addition to her husband Art and their children: Bridie Bezerra Musser (Steven) with grandsons Will and Ben; Arthur A. B. Trezise (Heather) with grandchildren Clara, Macy and Wyatt; and Patrick Bezerra Trezise (Silvia Punsoda).
After cremation of the remains, there will be a Mass of Requium at 11 a.m. on Thursday, March 14, at St. Peter’s church in Gunnison for those nearby. Similar services will be held later in Vermont and Brazil to accommodate the travel of direct family members who live in scattered overseas location, with arrangements to be announced accordingly.
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