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Tala Farea, 16 and her sister Rotana Farea, 22, of Fairfax, were recently found dead, reportedly taped together in the Hudson River. They had been missing since August. If you know what may have happened, contact your local police.
EGACY Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow.
WEDNESDAYS • Oct. 31, 2018
Richmond & Hampton Roads
LEGACYNEWSPAPER.COM • FREE
‘She’s not going to let anything stop her’
In the middle of the moments that defined the first half of her adult life, a period she more than once described as “overwhelming” — enrolling at Virginia Commonwealth University, transferring to a community college, establishing a career, marriage, children, divorce, raising four kids on her own — Sophia Entzminger decided to learn Spanish. She enrolled in a small weekly class at a community center in Chesterfield County. It was not supposed to lead to anything, Entzminger said. Her oldest children were grown and the youngest — twins Noah and Mia — were in high school. Entzminger, a respiratory therapist at Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU, had noticed an increase in Spanish-speaking patients and thought a knowledge of the language, even a passing one, would be beneficial. She took the class “just to see if I would like it”. She enjoyed it so much that she enrolled in a second class, this one at John Tyler Community College. Then she took a third. Then a fourth. “I took one class every semester — Spanish 1, Spanish 2 — and I think by Spanish 2 the bug had kind of hit me,” Entzminger said. Nearly four years later, after completing three more courses and making three trips to Central America — and as Noah and Mia settle into their first semester in college — Entzminger has returned to VCU to complete a bachelor’s
degree, a process she started more than 30 years ago. “I can’t believe it,” she said, her brown eyes glancing toward the window as she sits in the lobby of James Branch Cabell Library. “I would have never thought in a million years that I would be back in this place.” Entzminger first arrived at VCU in the summer of 1986, a shy 18-yearold from Richmond’s Southside. It did not go well. “It was overwhelming,” she said. “I remember my biology class, walking in and it seemed like an auditorium and I remember the teacher wrote on the overhead projector so everyone could see it. I just don’t think I was ready for the large experience.” She completed her first year then transferred to J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College. Her mother suggested the idea. The classes were smaller, and Entzminger could find a trade program as she continued to search for her long-term career. Entzminger remembers leafing through the Reynolds course bulletin as she tried to pick a major. “I always knew that I wanted to work in a hospital and I happened to fall on a page about respiratory therapy,” she said. “I decided to try it, never knew what a respiratory therapist was, what they did, nothing.” Respiratory therapists work with patients suffering from acute or chronic pulmonary dysfunction. Entzminger excelled in the program at Reynolds, and by age 20 she was
Sophia Entzminger in Honduras, where she volunteered. working full time. “I worked in neonatal [care], in all the ICUs. I remember seeing a lot very early — traumas, codes, the sickest of the sickest, cancers, death,” she said. “But I loved critical care, I did love it.” Entzminger settled into a 30-year career in the field. She and boyfriend Timothy Davis, who Entzminger first met when she was 16, were married in 1992. Two years later, she gave birth to a daughter, Nina, and in 1998 the family welcomed a second daughter, Maya. Entzminger left work to spend more time with her children. She did not think about returning to school. “At the time, I did not think about going back,” she said. “I was married. I had a family.” The marriage, however, began to fracture. In 1999, Entzminger returned to work as a respiratory
therapist at Children’s Hospital. Within a year, she learned she was pregnant again, this time with twins. Noah and Mia Davis are like their mother, and unlike each other. “Mia takes a lot after me,” Entzminger said. “She rises early. She is a stickler about time like me. She’s very prompt. Noah has a crazy personality like me; he likes to laugh. Mia’s a little bit more serious.” Like Entzminger, the twins are motivated. Mia, who for years believed she would study journalism, recently discovered a passion for special education. Noah gravitates toward computers, electronics and technology. They are best friends, Mia said. Both received scholarships to attend VCU. “We probably love each other the most and also get into the most disagreements,” Noah said. “We’re
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