Charlotte woman died the way she lived — a humanitarian serving others
Enedina “Dina” Fernandez was a doer in constant search of solutions to the world’s problems, whether advocating for her patients as a nurse or championing causes she felt called to support.
Fernandez, 75, died Tuesday when she and Nabila Rasoul, a recently resettled Afghan woman she was helping, were struck by a car while walking in east Charlotte. Family remembered her as a humanitarian and an optimist, who showed her values through years of service.
“She was a loving, gregarious person. She loved to talk to people,” her husband, Peter Fernandez said. “In her DNA, she was a volunteer.”
Born May 15, 1946 to Manuel and Carmen Del Toro, Fernandez grew up the middle of three children in one of the few Puerto Rican families in their largely Jewish neighborhood of South Bronx, New York.
Her father was a musician who played string bass and traveled to perform during the Big Band era. Her mother worked in bookkeeping for an import and export business.
She met her future husband on a blind date that included a boat ride and walk around Central Park while the two attended separate high schools.
She left an impression that night — including a mustard stain on Peter’s clothes from the hot dogs they shared — he recalled. They married Nov. 18, 1967 in New York, shortly after she graduated from the nursing school attached to Bellevue Hospital.
Her specialty was psychiatric nursing, particularly pediatrics. Her family recalled her as a patient nurse who advocated for the people in her care and stood up for them when she felt they deserved better.
“She had immense patience to be able to listen to people, to really hear them,” her husband said.
The family’s first stint in Charlotte began in 1979, when Peter relocated for work with IBM. They would return to the area for good in 1987, except for a year in Europe, also on IBM business.
Dina, too, would work for IBM for a time in various roles, including as a staff nurse, call center representative and in marketing.
But her identity, always, family said, was as a New Yorker and a nurse.
She went back to school to earn a bachelor’s degree in 1996 at what was then Queens College and became an unofficial den mother to her much younger classmates.
Her children, a son and daughter, remembered their home as always open to family, friends and classmates — even if that meant extending the Thanksgiving table with plywood and two sawhorses one year to fit everyone.
“My mom was a humanitarian and an optimist. She always believed in humanity’s best nature, even when it was hard,” daughter Melissa Brazfield Fernandez said, recalling her mother’s constant desire to be part of the solution.
Her sister Carmen Quesada-Virella said she believed their early upbringing among people who had fled persecution in Europe, as well as her strong Catholic faith, informed a passion for supporting marginalized people. Despite being a shy child, Fernandez grew into her voice, her sister said.
Fernandez spent years translating for low-income patients during medical appointments and was active in social justice work, first with St. Gabriel Catholic Church and then St. Peter Catholic Church.
“She clung onto that faith no matter what, and it pushed her forward in whatever direction she was going,” said her son, Christopher Fernandez.
More recently, she heard the call to help arriving Afghan families resettle in Charlotte. She formed a close bond with Nabila Rasoul, who she was helping on the day the pair died.
Fernandez was so proud of the progress Rasoul had made to learn English and championed her ambitions to pursue further education, her family said.
“She could see God in other people,” said Leslie Tesch, who with Fernandez co-facilitated a local JustFaith group, which discusses the relationship between faith, social justice and action. “When you recognize each person’s dignity, that’s very powerful.”
As Fernandez got older, the desire to help on an individual level evolved to support efforts to make systemic changes, including movements for racial justice, women’s rights and welcoming refugees and immigrants, her sister said.
“She began to come to grips with the systemic part of it; that it’s not enough just to fix it for one human being, as important as it is,” Quesada-Virella. “You have to fix the systems ... that keep people in poverty and living on the margins.”
Visitation will be 6 to 8 p.m. Sunday at McEwen Pineville Chapel, 10500 Park Road. Rosary and visitation will be 6 to 8 p.m. Monday at the chapel. A funeral Mass will be 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at St. Peter Catholic Church, 507 S. Tryon St.
The family suggests tributes to Catholic Charities, specifically the refugee resettlement program, or to the Rasoul family’s GoFundMe campaign.
This story was originally published February 20, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
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