The first thing Bella Cecere did after learning she had earned a full college scholarship through the Evans Scholars Foundation was call her father, Eric, in Singapore, where he was working for LIV Golf as a videographer, to give him the great news.
“He was so, so excited,” Bella said.
She couldn’t call her mom, however. Kristin Hoke, a news anchor at WPBF-Channel 25, died in 2010 after a courageous, 4½-year public battle with breast cancer. Hoke’s cancer was in remission when she gave birth to Bella in 2007, but it returned. Hoke was 42 – Bella was 3 – when she died.
What would now-17-year-old Bella have told her mom on that call?
“I would want to thank her,” Bella said. “Even though she’s not physically here, she helped me get to a place where I can have success. I’m so fueled by her, even though she’s not around anymore.”
Kristin’s No. 1 goal in life was to become a mother, but Bella’s birth came against steep odds. Kristin was diagnosed with breast cancer in early 2005. When the cancer went into remission, Kristin gave birth to Bella – birth name Isabella – in 2007.
“It was a long ride to getting pregnant and a small window to be born,” Eric Cecere said. “Bella is kind of like a miracle.”
A miracle that gave Kristin the ultimate joy in life. As much as she enjoyed being on camera in front of thousands of viewers, it was private time at home she cherished the most.
“Being a mother was the only thing that mattered to me in life,” she said at the time. “Children just re-center you, they do. Because nothing else matters. Friends and family, friends and family, friends and family. It’s the only thing that matters in the end.”
While on maternity leave, Kristin had a constant cough that wouldn’t get away. When she went to the doctor, she received devastating news: The cancer had spread to the lymph glands, the lungs, the sternum and the liver. She didn’t live much longer.
Memories of mother, Kristin Hoke, are distant but vivid for Bella
Bella’s memories of her mom are distant but vivid. She remembers her mom walking her in a park near where they lived in North Palm Beach and Kristin’s constant smile. Her last memory of her mom is the most painful.
“It was my dad telling me she wasn’t going to come back,” Bella said. “Little me didn’t understand that.”
Imagine what that conversation was like for her father. “Something like that changes your life,” Eric said. “It still seems like a blur. I probably forgot two years of my life. It’s been a bittersweet ride.”
Despite losing her mom early in life, Bella’s has overcome the grief to become an inspirational success story. It was capped last month when she learned she had received a five-year Evans Scholarship worth more than $125,000 – the first one funded by late Palm Beach Post golf writer Tim Rosaforte, who died in 2022 of Alzheimer’s disease.
Bella’s initial reaction to having her college paid for through caddying? “Bombastic,” she said with a smile. “It’s insane.”
Bella will attend the University of Delaware in Newark, Delaware, to study nursing, with the plan to become a nurse practitioner. It’s not difficult to guess why.
“The nurses in my mom’s life made such a profound impact on her,” Bella said. “I would love to go out and have that same impact on struggling people. Because if I could be that nurse for my mom, I would do it 100 times over.”
Once Kristin died, an army of family and friends came together to help Eric, who was going through his own grief, and his father, who lived nearby, raise Bella. Among them was fellow WPBF anchor Tiffany Kenney, who became friends with Kristin in the early 2000s working at the station.
Kenney threw the baby shower for Kristin, held Bella the night she was born. Her children, Caroline and Beck, became like siblings to Bella, who has a 9-year-old brother, Brando. Kenney believes Kristin remains a presence in her daughter’s life.
“I really feel that Kristin has been with her this entire journey. It’s like she’s had her hand on her shoulder helping her to navigate life,” Kenney said.
“She has her mom’s grit and her mom’s grace. That’s what got her where she is today. There’s something inherent in her that is so much like her mom … her determination, her optimism, her grace. There’s nothing Bella can’t accomplish in life.”
Kenney did everything she could to keep Kristin in Bella’s memory. Kristin’s sister gave Kenney pieces of Kristin’s jewelry, which she would give to Bella as birthday presents. Kenney also shared photos and stories of Kristin’s cancer battle.
“It’s not anything we shied away from,” Kenney said. “We would listen to ‘The Sound of Music’ a lot because that was one of Kristin’s favorite movies.”
Golf provided comfort for Bella and Dad through the years
One of the ways Bella and her father coped with Kristin’s death was turning to golf. Bella was 4 when they first went to North Palm Beach Country Club to hit shots on the range. She enjoyed the game, but more importantly the alone time with her dad.
“From the day I was born, golf has been an immensely important aspect of my life,” she said. “It provided support for my father, a single, widowed dad striving to advance his videography career, while also fostering a strong bond between us over countless hours at the driving range.”
Bella was then introduced to the First Tee-Florida Gold Coast, where she blossomed in the program. One of her mentors was Jacie Goodman, who two years ago earned an Evans Scholarship. Buoyed by that news, Bella started caddying at Old Marsh Golf Club, which has a junior caddie program. Bella becomes the fifth student from the local First Tee program to earn an Evans Scholarship.
“We are so excited and proud of Bella,” said Carl Mistretta, CEO of the First Tee-Florida Gold Coast. “Our partnership with the Evans Scholarship continues to grow every year as more golf clubs participate in the program and invite teens to caddie.”
It didn’t hurt Bella that one of Old Marsh’s members, John Braniff, is an Evans Foundation director. Once Braniff met Bella, and learned of her story and her accomplishments, he knew she would be a strong candidate.
“Bella is a special young lady,” Braniff said. “Her amazing story speaks for itself.”
In addition to attending school and caddying, Bella works at a C.R. Chicks and plays in a jazz band. Sleep in on the weekend like most teenagers? Not a chance. She’s got to caddie.
“I tell her she’s doing too much,” her father said. “She goes and goes and goes. But if that makes her happy, go for it.”
Bella said she has no choice but to become the best version of herself – for her mom’s memory.
“I think about her every day,” Bella said. “She’s a lot of my motivation to get through my day, my classes, my jobs. For me, giving up is not an option.”
Bella never met Tim Rosaforte, a legendary golf writer who lived in Palm Beach County with his wife, Genevieve, and daughters, Genna and Molly, for 35 years. After his death, Rosaforte’s friends – led by PGA professional Jack Druga – started The Rosie Pro-Am. Last year’s inaugural event at the Floridian in Palm City raised $200,000 for caddie scholarships – with most of the money used specifically for Bella’s Evans Scholarship.
“I was told that he was just a great journalist, that he was very well liked by people and everyone thought he was a great person,” Bella said. “I’m extremely grateful, and it’s really nice to be able to pinpoint this happened because of this person.”
On Sunday, May 11 – Mother’s Day – Bella and her father will go to the Floridian for the second annual Rosie Pro-Am to be honored as the first Rosie scholarship winner and to thank the golfers, many of whom helped raise her scholarship money last year.
The next day, Bella and her father will travel to the University of Delaware to get her first look at the campus. That will be the next step in her amazing journey that can be traced back to a mother she hasn’t seen in almost 15 years.
As Kenney said, she has felt her every step of the way.
Rosie Pro-Am set for May 11-12
If you are interested in donating to the Rosie Pro-Am – held May 11-12 at the Floridian in Palm City – to help future junior caddies earn full college scholarships, go to RosieProAm.com.
There are also many terrific auction items to bid on. Among the auction items: a chance for a foursome to play at Oakmont Country Club – site of this year’s U.S. Open – along with former head professional Bob Ford.
Last year’s inaugural Rosie Pro-Am raised almost $200,000 for college scholarships through First Tee-Florida Gold Coast and the Evans Scholars Foundation
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: IN HONOR OF MOM: Bella Cecere dedicates her life to late mother Kristin Hoke
Reporting by Craig Dolch / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
