She treated every child she cared for as her own, family and friends said Tuesday of Ana Maria Montaņo DeGimenez, 49, the nanny from Buenos Aires who died saving a Syosset boy from drowning last week.
So it was no surprise to them that she sacrificed her own life so the 3-year-old in her care could live.
At a wake held for Montaņo DeGimenez yesterday in Corona, more than 40 people filed in to pay their respects at a funeral home, including the boy's parents, Matthew and Rubian Foglia and Queens City Councilman Hiram Monserrate.
"She jumped into the pool because she loved the child," said Kevin DeLeon, 25, Montaņo DeGimenez's nephew, who lived with her and her husband in Highland Park, Brooklyn.
"She had pictures of everyone on her bureau," DeLeon said of the many children she routinely cared for. "This was her extended family."
Montaņo DeGimenez was working as the live-in nanny for the Foglias' three children last Thursday when she rushed to help the toddler who had accidentally slipped into their pool.
"He was running by the bushes and he slipped, and then Ana jumped after him," said her husband, Jorge, 55. The couple had been married for 33 years.
Montaņo DeGimenez, who had been in the country for eight years, did not know how to swim. She attempted to rescue the boy anyway while frantically calling for help, but could not stay afloat.
Rubian Foglia and her neighbors immediately rushed to help the nanny and child. One neighbor attended to the boy while the other helped keep Montaņo DeGimenez's torso above water. She was taken to Syosset Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Police have yet to release a cause of death.
The Foglias arrived early at the wake, approaching Montaņo DeGimenez's husband and DeLeon to pay their respects and to insist that they would be paying for the entire service.
They declined to comment.
Montaņo DeGimenez's body will be flown to Buenos Aires, where her two children and two grandchildren currently reside. Her funeral is scheduled to take place there on Friday.