Olivia M. Insignares, 89, Spanish language teacher
January 6, 2022
Olivia Mercedes Caparroso de Insignares, a former Pawleys Island resident, died Dec. 27 in Charleston surrounded by her family. She was 89.
She was born July 17, 1932, in Barranquilla, Colombia. She and her late husband, Dr. Manuel Insignares, an anethesiologist, moved to the United States in the 1960s. While living in Washington, D.C., Mrs. Insignares, who had earned a bachelor’s degree in Colombia, earned a master’s degree at the Catholic University. When the couple moved to Atlanta, she started work on a doctorate at Emory University. Her field of interest was Spanish literature and her doctoral work focused on the influence of Arabic on the Spanish language.
Mrs. Insignares also started a school in Colombia with an aunt. She and her husband moved back to Colombia, but after his death her children persuaded her to return to South Carolina in 1995. “We were all right here, Grandma should be with us,” said her daughter-in-law, Martha Insignares. “Her kids and her grandchildren were her life.”
Mrs. Insignares taught Spanish language at the Charleston Catholic School, the Hebrew Academy and the Montessori School of Pawleys Island. She also led classes at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute in Litchfield.
She continued teaching into her late 70s. She recently moved to Hanahan to live with her daughter.
She is survived by her children Manuel (Aurora), Luis (Martha) and Lilia Beatriz (Michael); and her grandchildren, Olivia, Joan, Jason, David, Samuel, Steven, Elias and Blaise.
Her family thanked the many caregivers who came into thier home to spend time with “Grandma,” especially Yolanda Elmore and Brandy Guarino.
A funeral mass for her family was held Dec. 31 at Precious Blood of Christ Catholic Church by the Rev. Patrick Stenson.
Burial will take place at the Catedral Metropolitana María Reina de Barranquilla.
