{"id":319853,"date":"2026-03-03T16:15:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T16:15:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/319853\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T16:15:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T16:15:19","slug":"filipina-caretaker-killed-by-iranian-missile-remembered-by-employers-as-angel-on-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/319853\/","title":{"rendered":"Filipina caretaker killed by Iranian missile remembered by employers as ‘angel on Earth’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Filipina carer Mary Anne Velasquez de Vera, 32, who was killed Saturday night in an Iranian missile strike on Tel Aviv,<\/a> was \u201can angel on Earth,\u201d according to her previous employers \u2014 her first upon arriving in Israel.<\/p>\n

Barbara Wachspress and her sister Janice Prawer reached out to The Times of Israel because, they said, they wanted the public to know how special she was.<\/p>\n

The young woman, who married another Philippine national two years ago, was the first fatality in Israel of the current war with Tehran.<\/p>\n

She was \u201cinjured while selflessly assisting<\/a> her patient to safety\u201d during the Iranian missile attack, according to the Israeli embassy in Manila.<\/p>\n

Velasquez de Vera was found in critical condition after the ballistic missile struck next to an apartment building in the coastal city. Paramedics pronounced her dead while rushing her to the hospital. She was identified by her husband.<\/p>\n

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The woman she was caring for was extracted by rescue workers from the rubble alive.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tOfficers from the IDF Home Front Command search through the rubble of a damaged apartment building after an Iranian missile strike, in Tel Aviv, early March 1, 2026. (AP Photo\/Ohad Zwigenberg)<\/p>\n

Twenty-seven others were injured, including two in moderate condition and 25 who sustained light injuries in the attack.<\/p>\n

Velasquez de Vera first came to Israel as a carer in 2019, and the first person she cared for was Doris Gurin. Gurin had recently immigrated, at the age of 89, together with daughter Prawer and her family, from Riverdale, Bronx. They lived in separate apartments in the same block in southern Beersheba, the city where Wachspress, Gurin\u2019s second daughter, has lived since 1987.<\/p>\n

The two daughters said their widowed mother, an independent but increasingly frail former nurse, had at first been reluctant to have a live-in carer, devoting herself at home to her mixed Shih Tzu-dachshund dog, Wally, nicknamed \u201cShidach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once she accepted the need for help and co-interviewed potential candidates, she and her daughters chose Velasquez de Vera after the latter admitted to being a \u201cpuppy-lover.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tIn this undated photo, Mary Anne Velasquez de Vera (right), who was killed in an Iranian missile attack on a Tel Aviv apartment building on March 1, plants a kiss on the cheek of Doris Gurin in the latter\u2019s apartment. (Courtesy)<\/p>\n

\u201cOur mom was the first person that Mary Anne cared for in Israel,\u201d Wachspress said. \u201cShe had the most wonderful smile. We brought her to our mom\u2019s apartment, and they both started hugging, and it was love at first sight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe doted on our mom like a loving granddaughter and called her Mother Earth,\u201d said Prawer. \u201cShe also loved Wally. When he got sick, she would wake up in the middle of the night to make sure he took his pills.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prawer added, \u201cShe was part of our family, a ray of sunshine \u2014 so special, caring, and devoted.\u201d<\/p>\n

After coming home from a hospitalization, Gurin developed coronavirus.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe agency recommended that Mary Anne leave, but she insisted on staying to care for Mom,\u201d Wachspress said.<\/p>\n

The sisters said the Filipino \u201csaw auras.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tMary Anne Velasquez de Vera (right), who was killed in an Iranian missile attack on a Tel Aviv apartment building on March 1, is seen with Doris Gurin, shortly before the latter died, at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, in December 2020. (Courtesy)<\/p>\n

\u201cShe described seeing the white-haired figure of our late dad sitting on our mother\u2019s sickbed,\u201d they recalled.<\/p>\n

After Gurin died of COVID-related complications, Velasquez de Vera said her spirit had visited her in a dream and been present at her wedding.<\/p>\n

Prawer and Wachspress said they first heard about the carer\u2019s untimely death via another Philippine national who had been a close friend.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took me a long time to believe this had actually happened,\u201d said Wachspress.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t absorb it,\u201d said Prawer, adding, \u201cWe were up crying all night. It\u2019s devastating.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two said they took comfort in the words Velasquez de Vera had uttered at Gurin\u2019s funeral in 2021. \u201cShe said, \u2018Until we meet again, and I\u2019ll continue to take care of you in the afterlife,’\u201d Wachspress recalled. \u201cIt\u2019s consoling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Note: This article was updated with information conveyed by the Philippines Embassy.<\/p>\n


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