\t\t\tAna Ferrer Illsen \t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\tOBITUARY\t\t<\/p>\n
Ana Ferrer Illsen<\/p>\n
\nJuly 5, 1950 \u2013 July 23, 2026<\/p>\n
\nAna Ferrer Illsen\u2014beloved mother, grandmother, wife, sister, storyteller, and author of Perfectly Imperfect and My Adventures\u2014entered Heaven\u2019s glory peacefully in her sleep on July 23, 2026, in the home she loved. She was 76.<\/p>\n
\nBorn in Havana, Cuba, to Jos\u00e9 Manuel Ferrer and Olga Leguina Almeida, Ana enjoyed a sunlit childhood of roller skating, American schooling, and the care of her nanny, Tata. In 1960 her family fled to Madrid, Spain. After her father\u2019s sudden death in 1965, she developed a lifelong resilience. Madrid became her coming-of-age city. At San Patricio School she befriended Maria \u201cCocola\u201d Drake with the line, \u201cMy name is Ana Ferrer, and I know the entire Mass in Latin.\u201d With Cocola and dear friend Isa, she shared decades of adventures. At the American School of Madrid she honed her sharp, irreverent wit.<\/p>\n
\nMusic and dancing threaded through her life\u2014from Madrid discotecas with her brother Jose to nights in Zermatt with her husband, Alex. She kept the radio on constantly, favoring sixties and seventies golden oldies while staying current with new hits. Professionally she worked as an executive assistant across international companies, later serving as Florida regional sales manager for a Chicago legal publisher. Unflappable and resourceful, she negotiated her own terms and could make anyone laugh describing how she did it.<\/p>\n
\nHer 1970 marriage to William Maclean produced daughters Veroushka and Vanessa. In 1981 she married Alex Illsen in Waukegan, Illinois, with her young daughters as witnesses. Their daughter Veronica was born in 1986, completing Ana\u2019s \u201cthree Vs.\u201d The marriage lasted 43 years until Alex\u2019s death in 2024. Ten years into it, Ana joined Al-Anon, which transformed her life\u2014teaching her to set boundaries, release control, and love freely. She cared for Alex devotedly in his final years, seeing patience as forgiveness in action.<\/p>\n
\nAt the heart of her growth was deep faith. She believed her relationships with God and herself were the ones that would last a lifetime, replacing her critical inner voice with the reminder that she was a precious, fallible child of God. For decades she sponsored women in recovery and answered Al-Anon hotline calls. In later years she found joy at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church services and musical events.<\/p>\n
\nAbove all, Ana adored her family. She raised her daughters through moves and uncertainty and delighted in her grandchildren\u2014Isabella, Valentina, and Sebastian\u2014through pool swims, Dunkin\u2019 Donuts runs, and storytelling. In her final years she compiled her memories into her memoir Perfectly Imperfect.<\/p>\n
\nAna was preceded in death by her husband, Alex. She is survived by her daughters Veroushka MacLean Volkert (Charles), Vanessa Maria Genet (David), and Veronica Illsen Winninger (Andrew); grandchildren Isabella Nancy Volkert, Ana Valentina Volkert, and Sebastian Hunter Genet; brother Jose Emilio Ferrer; nephew Maximillian Jose Emilio Ferrer (Kaitlyn Cole); nieces Tatiana Giordano (Mickey) and Alexandra Michelle Ferrer; sister-in-law Susana MacLean and her children Natacha Falzoni and Douglas Goullet; and dear friends Maria \u201cCocola\u201d Drake and Isabel Murga.<\/p>\n
\nIn lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Al-Anon Family Groups (www.al-anon.org).<\/p>\n
\nServices:<\/p>\n
\nSaturday, August 1, 2026<\/p>\n
\nCoral Ridge Presbyterian Church<\/p>\n
\n5555 N. Federal Highway, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33308<\/p>\n
\n\u2022\tVisitation: 2:00 PM \u2013 3:30 PM<\/p>\n
\n\u2022\tCelebration of Life Service: 3:30 PM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ana Ferrer Illsen OBITUARY Ana Ferrer Illsen July 5, 1950 \u2013 July 23, 2026 Ana Ferrer Illsen\u2014beloved mother,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":357384,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[249,251,250],"class_list":["post-357383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357383\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}