Cecelia Lazala Warner

A memorial visitation will be held Thursday July 30th from 4pm to 7pm. The family encourages anyone who wishes to pay their respects to dress in blue rather than black.

Cecelia Lazala Warner

It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of our beautiful sister and mother, Cecelia Lazala Warner (Stanishia), who passed away on July 25, 2026, in Rhinebeck, NY, in the presence of her loving family, after fighting a long battle with early-onset dementia. She was only 60 years old.

Born on July 9, 1966, on Clark Air Force Base in Pampanga province, Luzon, Philippines, Cecelia grew up in Westchester County, NY, attending Peekskill and Yorktown schools, and graduated from Lakeland High School in 1986, where she had taken BOCES courses for nursing. She had achieved her first degree black belt in Okinawan shorin-ryu through her father’s karate school, the Lou Stanishia Martial Arts, of Yorktown Heights, NY, where she had inspired many of her fellow students with her athleticism and her beautifully executed katas. She was an aspiring artist who loved writing in her signature bubble letters to dress up every birthday card, and has been known to have entered the Tippy the Turtle drawing contest (unknown if she had won, though.) Cecelia also loved to write poetry and perform impromptu living room concerts for friends and family, singing sappy 80’s love songs into her hairbrush.

Whether Cecelia was your sister, mother, aunt, grandmother, or treasured friend of yours, there is no doubt that you'll remember her sweet, gorgeous smile, her kind and considerate ways, and her infectious laugh, perfectly paired with a witty and silly sense of humor. She was fun-loving and always filled with good cheer. Her children, grandchildren and many nieces and nephews that survive her know her as the most caring of people, a gentle teacher who always had that quiet patience with them while she taught them how to make peanut butter cookies or chicken adobo, and as the person that knew how to laugh even in the most stressful of times in order to relieve the tension in the room. If you were lucky to have been loved by her, you had the loyalest and most-dependable ally who knew how to get you to smile when you were down. Better yet, you most likely have the funniest memories, ever, because of her.

Cecelia, we miss your beautiful heart so much, dear sister. Until we meet again.

Cecelia is predeceased by her parents, Teresita Lazala Stanishia and Louis Charles Stanishia, and is survived by her 3 sisters, Theresa Vinal, Liwan Degnan (David), and Aurora Wells (Keith), and her brother, Nicholas Stanishia; her 4 children and grandchildren: Lazala Brodhead (Tyrone) and son, Anthony Taylor; Eric Mackey and his children, Nevaeh, Landyn, and Zaidyn Mackey; Shannah Dickson (Kahleik) and her children, Skyla Santiago, Andrew and Aiden Workman; and Jasmine Mackey; many nieces and nephews, either blood related or “adopted at will”; aunt, uncles and cousins.