Cecylia Opika lived on this earth for eight decades.  On April 1st, she was discovered by police officers in her three-story town home on the far side of Chicago dead.  She had been dead for two months.  It took quite a while to motivate a neighbor to call police and ask for a “well-being” check according to the Chicago Sun Times.  Of course, someone could have probably inquired about Ms. Opika to her 43 year-old son who lived with her, although police have called him ” mentally challenged.”

In the end, Cecylia Opika was found under piles of garbage in the house. The Cook County Medical Examiner determined she died of natural causes brought on by heart disease.

Some neighbors suggest that Ms. Opika and her son never threw anything away.

The Chicago Sun Times found it fitting to use the headline:

Hoarder found buried in trash died of heart disease

She was a Woman, a Mother, a Daughter and at one time perhaps a Sister and a Wife.  I’m certain that she touched several lives in her 80 years.  She loved and was loved.  Now she’s dead and she deserves to be respected.  She was not a hoarder.  She was a Woman.