Days After Hairstylist's Death, Her Baby Dies, Too
Matthew Kruk
November 24, 2009, 12:12 pm
Days After Hairstylist's Death, Her Baby Dies, Too
By DAVID GONZALEZ
David Gonzalez/The New York Times A makeshift altar at Jailina Salon
Unisex in Washington Heights commemorates the death of Joselin Castro
and her daughter, Monserrat. At left, in the mirror, is Carmen Mota, a
friend of Ms. Castro.
Joselin Castro did not live long enough to cradle her baby girl. But on
Tuesday, mother and child will be united at a Washington Heights funeral
parlor.
Ms. Castro, a beloved local hairstylist who was expecting her first
child, died unexpectedly last week. Doctors delivered the infant - six
weeks premature - but the child never awakened from a coma. On Sunday,
Baby Monserrat was taken off life support.
Inside Jailina Salon Unisex, where Ms. Castro worked for seven years, a
stunned quiet still prevailed. Near the front, a jar stuffed with
donations for her husband, Carlos, rested alongside votive candles and a
statue of El Divino Ni�o Jesus, her patron. The phone rang steadily, as
friends and neighbors called for details about the wake.
"Today, from 2 to 8 at Ortiz," said Virginia Pe�a, a stylist. "I think
in the same casket."
Carmen Mota, a long-time friend and client, said the baby never had a
chance. She had visited the child over the weekend and had spoken with
the nurse.
"When I saw the baby I could tell," she said. "There was no movement,
anything. The nurse told me everything was shutting down. It was only
going to get worse."
It was already as bad as could be imagined for the child's father. He
was, in a word, "destroyed," Ms. Mota said.
"Imagine all that he lost in a week," she said. "They had dreams. Goals.
That baby was going to be the realization of everything Joselin had
wanted. And now Carlos lost her and his daughter."
What he has gained is the love of neighbors, friends and total
strangers.
"I keep telling people that when somebody good dies, everybody feels
it," Ms. Mota said. "When a delinquent dies, the only one grieving is
the mother. Joselin was different. She was love."
Mother and child will be buried in the Dominican Republic.
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