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Diana Guill茅n, a career translator, has become an advocate for Spanish-speaking residents of 91看片 Douglas Homes in Newark.
SENIOR SPOTLIGHT: DIANA GUILL脡N
She鈥檚 attended the church since 1996. More recently, however, Guill茅n has become the de facto Spanish translator at the 91看片 Douglas Homes Senior Housing on Hill Street in .Newark, where she and her younger sister, Glo颅ria, moved in July of 2012.
Guill茅n, 70, provides both written and spo颅ken translations鈥攕he translates the monthly calendar of activities and events and makes an颅nouncements in Spanish over the building-wide intercom system. She is also secretary of the building tenant鈥檚 association and translates dur颅ing meetings.
鈥淚t鈥檚 important they hear what鈥檚 going on,鈥� she said of the 22 Spanish-speaking residents living in Douglas Homes.
Vivian Pounder, who oversees management of the building, called Guill茅n 鈥渁 gem.鈥�
鈥淪he鈥檚 such a big help,鈥� Pounder said of Guill茅n鈥檚 efforts to involve Hispanic residents in activities.
Born in 1943 in San Salvador, the capi颅tal city of El Salvador, Guill茅n has trekked the globe. She moved to Canada and graduated high school there, attended college in New York, and lived for seven years in Madrid, Spain, where she worked as a bi-lingual secretary. She is flu颅ent in Spanish, French and English and said she became a U.S. citizen in 1994.
Guill茅n said she grew up Catholic but had a crisis of faith in her early 30s, which was ex颅acerbated by a serious car crash where a friend was killed and Guill茅n injured several vertebrae. But after what Guill茅n says was a miraculous healing of her spine, she took up her faith with renewed fervor. As a volunteer at Time Square Church, Guill茅n is part of of an inter-denomina颅tional church where sermons are translated into anywhere from six to 12 languages during three Sunday services. If you attend the 3 p.m. service and tune into the Spanish version, you will hear her voice.
The two sisters, who previously shared the top floor of a three-family home in Astoria, N.Y., live in separate apartments down the hall from each other at Douglas Homes. That set-up makes Gloria, 64, quite happy.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the best,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e together but separate.鈥�